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Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the twenty-first century. While small-scale experiments change behaviors among adults in the short run, we know little about the effectiveness of large-scale policies or the longer-run impacts. To nudge primary school children into a long-term habit of exercising, the German state of Saxony distributed sports club membership vouchers among all 33,000 third graders in 2009. In 2018, we carried out a register-based survey to evaluate the policy. Even after a decade, awareness of the voucher program was significantly higher in the treatment group. We also find that youth received and redeemed the vouchers. However, we do not find significant short- or long-term effects on sports club membership, physical activity, overweightness, or motor skills. Apparently, membership vouchers for children are not a strong enough policy tool to overcome barriers to exercise regularly.
Dieses Standardwerk zu Geschäftsprozessmanagement in Wirtschaft und Verwaltung gibt gleichzeitig einen Überblick über den aktuellen Stand der Forschung zu diesem Thema und führt Interessierte wie Studierende oder Praktiker in das Thema und seine Facetten ein. Aktuelle Entwicklungen wie Robotic Process Automation und Process Mining werden aufgegriffen. Im Mittelpunkt stehen die drei wesentlichen GPM- Blickwinkel Technik, Organisation und Mensch.
Aus Sicht der Forschung werden innovative Methoden zur Modellierung und Analyse von Geschäftsprozessen beschrieben. Aus Sicht der Lehre dient das Buch als Einstiegslektüre und liefert Ansatzpunkte für die vertiefte Befassung mit einzelnen Aspekten des Geschäftsprozessmanagements. Für die Praxis beschreibt dieses Werk die dort bestehenden konzeptionellen und methodischen Hindernisse des Prozessmanagements und zeigt Wege zur Überwindung dieser Hindernisse. Die vorliegende Auflage wurde vollständig überarbeitet und stark erweitert, u. a. mit neuen Kapiteln zu Software für das Geschäftsprozessmanagement und zum Change Management.
States, in their conflicts with militant groups embedded in civilian populations, often resort to policies of collective punishment to erode civilian support for the militants. We attempt to evaluate the efficacy of such policies in the context of the Gaza Strip, where Israel's blockade and military interventions, purportedly intended to erode support for Hamas, have inflicted hardship on the civilian population.
We combine Palestinian public opinion data, Palestinian labor force surveys, and Palestinian fatalities data, to understand the relationship between exposure to Israeli policies and Palestinian support for militant factions.
Our baseline strategy is a difference-in-differences specification that compares the gap in public opinion between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank during periods of intense punishment with the gap during periods when punishment is eased. Consistent with previous research, we find that Palestinian fatalities are associated with Palestinian support for more militant political factions. The effect is short-lived, however, dissipating after merely one quarter.
Moreover, the blockade of Gaza itself appears to be only weakly associated with support for militant factions. Overall, we find little evidence to suggest that Israeli security policies toward the Gaza Strip have any substantial lasting effect on Gazan support for militant factions, neither deterring nor provoking them relative to their West Bank counterparts.
Our findings therefore call into question the logic of Israel's continued security policies toward Gaza, while prompting a wider re-examination of the efficacy of deterrence strategies in other asymmetric conflicts.
Social networking site use and well-being - a nuanced understanding of a complex relationship
(2022)
Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are ubiquitous and attract an enormous chair of the digital population. Their functionalities allow users to connect and interact with others and weave complex social networks in which social information is continuously disseminated between users. Besides the social value SNSs are generating, they likewise attract companies and allow for new forms of marketing, thereby creating considerable economic value alike. However, as SNSs grew in popularity, so did concerns about the impact of their use on social interactions in general and the well-being of individual users in particular. While existing scientific evidence points to both risk as well as benefits of SNS use, research still lacks a profound understanding of which aspects of SNSs enable an impact on well-being and which psychological processes on the part of the users underly and explain this relationship. Therefore, this thesis is dedicated to an in-depth exploration of the relationship between SNS use and well-being and aims to answer how SNS use can impact well-being. Primarily, it focuses on the unique technological features that characterize SNSs and enable potential well- being alterations and on specific psychological processes on the part of the users, underlying and explaining the relationship. For this purpose, the thesis first introduces the concept of well- being. It continues by presenting SNSs’ unique technological features, divided into specifics of the content disseminated on SNSs and the network structure of SNSs. Further, the thesis introduces three classes of psychological processes assumed most relevant for the relationship between SNSs and well-being: other-focused, self-focused, and contrastive processes.. It is assumed that the course and quality of these common processes change in the SNS context and that a complex interplay between the unique features of SNSs and these processes determines how SNSs may ultimately affect users' well-being - both in positive and negative ways. The dissertation comprises seven research articles, each of which focusses on a particular set of SNS characteristics, their interplay with one or more of the proposed psychological processes, and ultimately the resulting effects on user well-being or its key resilience and risk factors. The seven articles investigate this relationship using different methodological approaches. Three articles are based on either systematic or narrative literature reviews, one applies an empirical cross-sectional research design, and three articles present an experimental investigation. Thematically, two articles revolve around SNS use’s effect on self-esteem. Three articles examine the specific role of the emotion of envy and its potential to establish and perpetuate a well-being-damaging social climate on SNSs. The two last articles of this thesis revolve around the established assumption that active and passive SNS use, as different modalities of SNS use, cause differential effects on users’ well-being due to the involvement of different psychological processes. The results of this thesis illustrate different ways how SNSs can affect users’ well-being. The results suggest that especially contrastive processes play a decisive role in explaining potential well-being risks for SNS users. Their interplay with certain SNS features seems to foster upward social comparisons and feelings of envy, potentially leading to a complex set of deleterious effects on users’ well-being. At the same time, the findings illuminate ways in which SNSs can benefit users and their self-esteem – especially when SNS use promotes self- focused and social-feedback-based other-focused processes. The thesis and their findings illustrate that the relationship between SNSs and well-being is complex. Therefore, a nuanced perspective, taking into consideration both the technological uniqueness of SNSs and the psychological processes they are enabling, is crucial to understand how these technologies affect their users in good and potentially harmful ways. On the one hand, the gathered insights contribute to research, providing novel insights into the complex relationship between SNS use and well-being. On the other hand, the results enable a focused and action-oriented derivation of recommendations for stakeholders such as individual users, policymakers, and platform providers. The findings of this thesis can help them to better combat SNS-related risks and ultimately ensure a healthy and sustainable environment for users - and thus also the economic values of SNSs - in the long term.
Do internships pay off?
(2022)
We study the causal effect of student internship experience in firms on earnings later in life. We use mandatory firm internships at German universities as an instrument for doing a firm internship while attending university. Employing longitudinal data from graduate surveys, we find positive and significant earnings returns of about 6 percent in both ordinary least squares (OLS) and instrumental variables (IV) regressions. The positive returns are particularly pronounced for individuals and areas of study that are characterized by a weak labor market orientation. The empirical findings show that graduates who completed a firm internship face a lower risk of unemployment during the first year of their careers, suggesting a smoother transition to the labor market.
Coming back for more
(2022)
Recent spikes in social networking site (SNS) usage times have launched investigations into reasons for excessive SNS usage. Extending research on social factors (i.e., fear of missing out), this study considers the News Feed setup. More specifically, we suggest that the order of the News Feed (chronological vs. algorithmically assembled posts) affects usage behaviors. Against the background of the variable reward schedule, this study hypothesizes that the different orders exert serendipity differently. Serendipity, termed as unexpected lucky encounters with information, resembles variable rewards. Studies have evidenced a relation between variable rewards and excessive behaviors. Similarly, we hypothesize that order-induced serendipitous encounters affect SNS usage times and explore this link in a two-wave survey with an experimental setup (users using either chronological or algorithmic News Feeds). While theoretically extending explanations for increased SNS usage times by considering the News Feed order, practically the study will offer recommendations for relevant stakeholders.
One for all, all for one
(2022)
We propose a conceptual model of acceptance of contact tracing apps based on the privacy calculus perspective. Moving beyond the duality of personal benefits and privacy risks, we theorize that users hold social considerations (i.e., social benefits and risks) that underlie their acceptance decisions. To test our propositions, we chose the context of COVID-19 contact tracing apps and conducted a qualitative pre-study and longitudinal quantitative main study with 589 participants from Germany and Switzerland. Our findings confirm the prominence of individual privacy calculus in explaining intention to use and actual behavior. While privacy risks are a significant determinant of intention to use, social risks (operationalized as fear of mass surveillance) have a notably stronger impact. Our mediation analysis suggests that social risks represent the underlying mechanism behind the observed negative link between individual privacy risks and contact tracing apps' acceptance. Furthermore, we find a substantial intention–behavior gap.
Food preferences are crucial for diet-related decisions, which substantially impact individual health and global climate. However, the persistence of unfavorable food preferences is a significant obstacle to changing eating behavior.
Here we explored the effects of posthypnotic suggestions (PHS) on food-related decisions by measuring food choices, subjective ratings, and indifference points. In Session 1, demographic data and hypnotic susceptibility of participants were assessed. In Session 2, following hypnosis induction, PHS aiming to increase the desirability of healthy food was delivered.
Afterward, a task set was administrated twice, once when PHS was activated and once deactivated. The order of PHS activation was counterbalanced across participants. The task set included a liking-rating task for 170 pictures of different food items, followed by an online supermarket where participants were instructed to select enough food for a fictitious week of quarantining from the same item pool. After 1 week, Session 3 repeated Session 2 without hypnosis induction in order to assess the persistence of PHS.
The crucial dependent measures were food choices, subjective ratings, and the indifference points as a function of time and PHS condition.
Algorithmic management
(2022)
Algorithmic management
(2022)
IMPACT German municipalities have prepared performance budgets for over 10 years. The incorporation of performance information into the budget is, however, still work in progress. Local politicians perceive the usability of non-financial information in the budget as low and do not use such information intensively for budget composition or other purposes. German municipal budgets are usually voluminous because of their highly detailed structure and the large amount of displayed performance data which rarely informs about outcomes. Such information does not meet the needs of councillors, for example in their struggles with political opponents. Some options for improving the usability of budgetary information are presented.
This paper presents an exploratory study investigating the influence of the factors (1) intermediary participation, (2) decision-making authority, (3) position in the enterprise, and (4) experience in open innovation on the perception and assessment of the benefits and risks expected from participating in open innovation projects. For this purpose, an online survey was conducted in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The result of this paper is an empirical evidence showing whether and how these factors affect the perception of potential benefits and risks expected within the context of open innovation project participation. Furthermore, the identified effects are discussed against the theory. Existing theory regarding the benefits and risks of open innovation is expanded by (1) finding that they are perceived mostly independently of the factors, (2) confirming the practical relevance of benefits and risks, and (3) enabling a finer distinction between their degrees of relevance according to respective contextual specifics.
Findings in the extant literature are mixed concerning when and how gender diversity benefits team performance. We develop and test a model that posits that gender-diverse teams outperform gender-homogeneous teams when perceived time pressure is low, whereas the opposite is the case when perceived time pressure is high. Drawing on the categorization-elaboration model (CEM; van Knippenberg, De Dreu, & Homan, 2004), we begin with the assumption that information elaboration is the process whereby gender diversity fosters positive effects on team performance. However, also in line with the CEM, we argue that this process can be disrupted by adverse team dynamics. Specifically, we argue that as time pressure increases, higher gender diversity leads to more team withdrawal, which, in turn, moderates the positive indirect effect of gender diversity on team performance via information elaboration such that this effect becomes weaker as team withdrawal increases. In an experimental study of 142 four-person teams, we found support for this model that explains why perceived time pressure affects the performance of gender-diverse teams more negatively than that of gender-homogeneous teams. Our study sheds new light on when and how gender diversity can become either an asset or a liability for team performance.
The organisation of legislative chambers and the consequences of parliamentary procedures have been among the most prominent research questions in legislative studies. Even though democratic elections not only lead to the formation of a government but also result in an opposition, the literature has mostly neglected oppositions and their role in legislative chambers. This paper proposes to fill this gap by looking at the legislative organisation from the perspective of opposition players. The paper focuses on the potential influence of opposition players in the policy-making process and presents data on more than 50 legislative chambers. The paper shows considerable variance of the formal power granted to opposition players. Furthermore, the degree of institutionalisation of opposition rights is connected to electoral systems and not necessarily correlated with other institutional characteristics such as regime type or the size of legislative chambers.
The organisation of legislative chambers and the consequences of parliamentary procedures have been among the most prominent research questions in legislative studies. Even though democratic elections not only lead to the formation of a government but also result in an opposition, the literature has mostly neglected oppositions and their role in legislative chambers. This paper proposes to fill this gap by looking at the legislative organisation from the perspective of opposition players. The paper focuses on the potential influence of opposition players in the policy-making process and presents data on more than 50 legislative chambers. The paper shows considerable variance of the formal power granted to opposition players. Furthermore, the degree of institutionalisation of opposition rights is connected to electoral systems and not necessarily correlated with other institutional characteristics such as regime type or the size of legislative chambers.
Long-term value creation is expected not only to be concerned with maximizing shareholder value but also includes the impact on other stakeholders and the environment. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are therefore gaining increasing importance, in line with the growing demand for corporate sustainability. ESG ratings foster the comparison of companies with respect to their sustainable practices. This study aims to investigate how ESG ratings impact financial performance in the European food industry. Ordinary least squares regression is applied to analyze the relation between ESG ratings and financial performance over a 4-year period from 2017 to 2020. The profitability measures Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) are employed as financial performance measures, while ESG ratings are obtained from the database CSRHub. Results show that higher ESG ratings are associated with better financial performance. Although the effect is modest in the present study, the findings support previous results that ESG ratings are positively related to financial performance. Nonetheless, they also highlight that ESG ratings strongly converge to the mean, which depicts the need to reassess whether ESG ratings are able to measure actual ESG behavior.
Creative intensive processes
(2023)
Creativity – developing something new and useful – is a constant challenge in the working world. Work processes, services, or products must be sensibly adapted to changing times. To be able to analyze and, if necessary, adapt creativity in work processes, a precise understanding of these creative activities is necessary. Process modeling techniques are often used to capture business processes, represent them graphically and analyze them for adaptation possibilities. This has been very limited for creative work. An accurate understanding of creative work is subject to the challenge that, on the one hand, it is usually very complex and iterative. On the other hand, it is at least partially unpredictable as new things emerge. How can the complexity of creative business processes be adequately addressed and simultaneously manageable? This dissertation attempts to answer this question by first developing a precise process understanding of creative work. In an interdisciplinary approach, the literature on the process description of creativity-intensive work is analyzed from the perspective of psychology, organizational studies, and business informatics. In addition, a digital ethnographic study in the context of software development is used to analyze creative work. A model is developed based on which four elementary process components can be analyzed: Intention of the creative activity, Creation to develop the new, Evaluation to assess its meaningfulness, and Planning of the activities arising in the process – in short, the ICEP model. These four process elements are then translated into the Knockledge Modeling Description Language (KMDL), which was developed to capture and represent knowledge-intensive business processes. The modeling extension based on the ICEP model enables creative business processes to be identified and specified without the need for extensive modeling of all process details. The modeling extension proposed here was developed using ethnographic data and then applied to other organizational process contexts. The modeling method was applied to other business contexts and evaluated by external parties as part of two expert studies. The developed ICEP model provides an analytical framework for complex creative work processes. It can be comprehensively integrated into process models by transforming it into a modeling method, thus expanding the understanding of existing creative work in as-is process analyses.
Defining the metaverse
(2023)
The term Metaverse is emerging as a result of the late push by multinational technology conglomerates and a recent surge of interest in Web 3.0, Blockchain, NFT, and Cryptocurrencies. From a scientific point of view, there is no definite consensus on what the Metaverse will be like. This paper collects, analyzes, and synthesizes scientific definitions and the accompanying major characteristics of the Metaverse using the methodology of a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). Two revised definitions for the Metaverse are presented, both condensing the key attributes, where the first one is rather simplistic holistic describing “a three-dimensional online environment in which users represented by avatars interact with each other in virtual spaces decoupled from the real physical world”. In contrast, the second definition is specified in a more detailed manner in the paper and further discussed. These comprehensive definitions offer specialized and general scholars an application within and beyond the scientific context of the system science, information system science, computer science, and business informatics, by also introducing open research challenges. Furthermore, an outlook on the social, economic, and technical implications is given, and the preconditions that are necessary for a successful implementation are discussed.
Defining the metaverse
(2023)
The term Metaverse is emerging as a result of the late push by multinational technology conglomerates and a recent surge of interest in Web 3.0, Blockchain, NFT, and Cryptocurrencies. From a scientific point of view, there is no definite consensus on what the Metaverse will be like. This paper collects, analyzes, and synthesizes scientific definitions and the accompanying major characteristics of the Metaverse using the methodology of a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). Two revised definitions for the Metaverse are presented, both condensing the key attributes, where the first one is rather simplistic holistic describing “a three-dimensional online environment in which users represented by avatars interact with each other in virtual spaces decoupled from the real physical world”. In contrast, the second definition is specified in a more detailed manner in the paper and further discussed. These comprehensive definitions offer specialized and general scholars an application within and beyond the scientific context of the system science, information system science, computer science, and business informatics, by also introducing open research challenges. Furthermore, an outlook on the social, economic, and technical implications is given, and the preconditions that are necessary for a successful implementation are discussed.
Umfassend oder überfrachtet?
(2023)
In der Theorie klingt es erst mal pädagogisch und didaktisch verlockend: Umfassend ausgebildete Lehrkräfte verharren nicht stur in ihren fachlichen Grenzen, sondern unterrichten Phänomene in ihren mannigfaltigen Zusammenhängen. So erwerben Schüler*innen die Möglichkeit, Sachverhalte umfassend aus verschiedenen Perspektiven zu betrachten und ihnen kompetent zu begegnen. Im Hinblick auf eine vollgestopfte Stundentafel scheint dies auch zeitlich effizient: Warum verschiedene Fächer aufwenden, wenn man drei oder vier Bildungsanliegen in einem zweistündigen Fach unterbringen kann?
Berufswahl differenzieren(d)
(2023)
Megatrends, affecting multiple aspects of future society, economy, and technology, drive today's business world. They are expected to impact all areas in companies and will, therefore, most likely occur in business negotiations. Although several studies address future developments of different business divisions, the megatrends' impact on negotiations has, thus far, not been analyzed. We designed a model including the three megatrends, i.e., globalization and economic shift, digitalization and new technologies, and demographic and social change, which have main effects on specific negotiation aspects. Our study combined an online survey and expert interviews with negotiation practitioners to provide a first broad view of how megatrends affect future business negotiations. The results confirm our model and reveal a close connection of megatrends and single negotiation aspects. Among others, we examine an orientation toward global partners, an increased interconnection through various electronic systems, as well as two opposite relationship directions - long-term and integrative through strategic cooperation vs. short-term and distributive through competition and new technologies.
Digitale und gesellschaftliche Entwicklungen fordern kontinuierliche Weiterbildung für Mitarbeiter im Vertrieb. Es halten sich in dieser Berufssparte aber immer noch einige Mythen zum Training von Vertriebsmitarbeitern. Unter anderem deshalb wurde in der Vergangenheit der Trainingsbedarf im Vertrieb stark vernachlässigt. Die Arbeit befasst sich deshalb zunächst mit der Frage, wie der Vertrieb in Deutschland aktuell geschult wird (unter Einbezug der Corona-Pandemie) und ob sich aus den Trainingsgewohnheiten erste Hinweise zur Erlangung eines strategischen Wettbewerbsvorteils ergeben könnten.
Dabei greift die Arbeit auf, dass Investitionen in das Training von Vertriebsmitarbeitern eine Anlage in die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des Unternehmens sein könnten. Automatisierte Trainings, beispielsweise basierend auf Virtual Reality (VR) und Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI), könnten in der Aus- und Weiterbildung des Vertriebs einen effizienten Beitrag in der Sicherstellung eines strategischen Wettbewerbsvorteils leisten. Durch weitere Forschungsfragen befasst sich die Arbeit anschließend damit, wie ein automatisiertes Vertriebstraining mit KI- und VR-Inhalten unter Einbeziehung der Nutzer gestaltet werden muss, um Vertriebsmitarbeiter in einem dafür ausgewählten Verhandlungskontext zu trainieren. Dazu wird eine Anwendung mit Hilfe von Virtual Reality und Künstlicher Intelligenz in einem Verhandlungsdialog entwickelt, getestet und evaluiert.
Die vorliegende Arbeit liefert eine Basis für die Automatisierung von Vertriebstrainings und im erweiterten Sinne für Trainings im Allgemeinen.
Social networking sites
(2023)
Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) moves atmospheric carbon to geological or land-based sinks. In a first-best setting, the optimal use of CDR is achieved by a removal subsidy that equals the optimal carbon tax and marginal damages. We derive second-best policy rules for CDR subsidies and carbon taxes when no global carbon price exists but a national government implements a unilateral climate policy. We find that the optimal carbon tax differs from an optimal CDR subsidy because of carbon leakage and a balance of resource trade effect. First, the optimal removal subsidy tends to be larger than the carbon tax because of lower supply-side leakage on fossil resource markets. Second, net carbon exporters exacerbate this wedge to increase producer surplus of their carbon resource producers, implying even larger removal subsidies. Third, net carbon importers may set their removal subsidy even below their carbon tax when marginal environmental damages are small, to appropriate producer surplus from carbon exporters.
The crises of both the climate and the biosphere are manifestations of the imbalance between human extractive, and polluting activities and the Earth’s regenerative capacity. Planetary boundaries define limits for biophysical systems and processes that regulate the stability and life support capacity of the Earth system, and thereby also define a safe operating space for humanity on Earth. Budgets associated to planetary boundaries can be understood as global commons: common pool resources that can be utilized within finite limits. Despite the analytical interpretation of planetary boundaries as global commons, the planetary boundaries framework is missing a thorough integration into economic theory. We aim to bridge the gap between welfare economic theory and planetary boundaries as derived in the natural sciences by presenting a unified theory of cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis. Our pragmatic approach aims to overcome shortcomings of the practical applications of CEA and CBA to environmental problems of a planetary scale. To do so, we develop a model framework and explore decision paradigms that give guidance to setting limits on human activities. This conceptual framework is then applied to planetary boundaries. We conclude by using the realized insights to derive a research agenda that builds on the understanding of planetary boundaries as global commons.
This paper studies the impact of a ban on late-night off-premise alcohol sales between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in Germany. We use three large administrative data sets: (i) German diagnosis related groups-Statistik, (ii) data from a large social health insurance, and (iii) Road Traffic Accident Statistics. Applying difference-in-differences and synthetic-control-group methods, we find that the ban had no effects on alcohol-related road casualties, but significantly reduced alcohol-related hospitalizations (doctor visits) among young people by around 9 (18) percent. The decrease is driven by fewer hospitalizations due to acute alcohol intoxication during the night—when the ban is in place—but not during the day.
Recent debates in international relations increasingly focus on bureaucratic apparatuses of international organizations and highlight their role, influence, and autonomy in global public policy. In this contribution we follow the recent call made by Moloney and Rosenbloom in this journal to make use of “public administrative theory and empirically based knowledge in analyzing the behavior of international and regional organizations” and offer a systematic analysis of the inner structures of these administrative bodies. Changes in these structures can reflect both the (re-)assignment of responsibilities, competencies, and expertise, but also the (re)allocation of resources, staff, and corresponding signalling of priorities. Based on organizational charts, we study structural changes within 46 international bureaucracies in the UN system. Tracing formal changes to all internal units over two decades, this contribution provides the first longitudinal assessment of structural change at the international level. We demonstrate that the inner structures of international bureaucracies in the UN system became more fragmented over time but also experienced considerable volatility with periods of structural growth and retrenchment. The analysis also suggests that IO's political features yield stronger explanatory power for explaining these structural changes than bureaucratic determinants. We conclude that the politics of structural change in international bureaucracies is a missing piece in the current debate on international public administrations that complements existing research perspectives by reiterating the importance of the political context of international bureaucracies as actors in global governance.
Recent research suggests that design thinking practices may foster the development of needed capabilities in new digitalised landscapes. However, existing publications represent individual contributions, and we lack a holistic understanding of the value of design thinking in a digital world. No review, to date, has offered a holistic retrospection of this research. In response, in this bibliometric review, we aim to shed light on the intellectual structure of multidisciplinary design thinking literature related to capabilities relevant to the digital world in higher education and business settings, highlight current trends and suggest further studies to advance theoretical and empirical underpinnings. Our study addresses this aim using bibliometric methods—bibliographic coupling and co-word analysis as they are particularly suitable for identifying current trends and future research priorities at the forefront of the research. Overall, bibliometric analyses of the publications dealing with the related topics published in the last 10 years (extracted from the Web of Science database) expose six trends and two possible future research developments highlighting the expanding scope of the design thinking scientific field related to capabilities required for the (more sustainable and human-centric) digital world. Relatedly, design thinking becomes a relevant approach to be included in higher education curricula and human resources training to prepare students and workers for the changing work demands. This paper is well-suited for education and business practitioners seeking to embed design thinking capabilities in their curricula and for design thinking and other scholars wanting to understand the field and possible directions for future research.
Recent research suggests that design thinking practices may foster the development of needed capabilities in new digitalised landscapes. However, existing publications represent individual contributions, and we lack a holistic understanding of the value of design thinking in a digital world. No review, to date, has offered a holistic retrospection of this research. In response, in this bibliometric review, we aim to shed light on the intellectual structure of multidisciplinary design thinking literature related to capabilities relevant to the digital world in higher education and business settings, highlight current trends and suggest further studies to advance theoretical and empirical underpinnings. Our study addresses this aim using bibliometric methods—bibliographic coupling and co-word analysis as they are particularly suitable for identifying current trends and future research priorities at the forefront of the research. Overall, bibliometric analyses of the publications dealing with the related topics published in the last 10 years (extracted from the Web of Science database) expose six trends and two possible future research developments highlighting the expanding scope of the design thinking scientific field related to capabilities required for the (more sustainable and human-centric) digital world. Relatedly, design thinking becomes a relevant approach to be included in higher education curricula and human resources training to prepare students and workers for the changing work demands. This paper is well-suited for education and business practitioners seeking to embed design thinking capabilities in their curricula and for design thinking and other scholars wanting to understand the field and possible directions for future research.
Advancing digitalization is changing society and has far-reaching effects on people and companies. Fundamental to these changes are the new technological possibilities for processing data on an ever-increasing scale and for various purposes. The availability of large and high-quality data sets, especially those based on personal data, is crucial. They are used either to improve the productivity, quality, and individuality of products and services or to develop new types of services. Today, user behavior is tracked more actively and comprehensively than ever despite increasing legal requirements for protecting personal data worldwide. That increasingly raises ethical, moral, and social questions, which have moved to the forefront of the political debate, not least due to popular cases of data misuse. Given this discourse and the legal requirements, today's data management must fulfill three conditions: Legality or legal conformity of use and ethical legitimacy. Thirdly, the use of data should add value from a business perspective. Within the framework of these conditions, this cumulative dissertation pursues four research objectives with a focus on gaining a better understanding of
(1) the challenges of implementing privacy laws,
(2) the factors that influence customers' willingness to share personal data,
(3) the role of data protection for digital entrepreneurship, and
(4) the interdisciplinary scientific significance, its development, and its interrelationships.
Volatile supply and sales markets, coupled with increasing product individualization and complex production processes, present significant challenges for manufacturing companies. These must navigate and adapt to ever-shifting external and internal factors while ensuring robustness against process variabilities and unforeseen events. This has a pronounced impact on production control, which serves as the operational intersection between production planning and the shop- floor resources, and necessitates the capability to manage intricate process interdependencies effectively. Considering the increasing dynamics and product diversification, alongside the need to maintain constant production performances, the implementation of innovative control strategies becomes crucial.
In recent years, the integration of Industry 4.0 technologies and machine learning methods has gained prominence in addressing emerging challenges in production applications. Within this context, this cumulative thesis analyzes deep learning based production systems based on five publications. Particular attention is paid to the applications of deep reinforcement learning, aiming to explore its potential in dynamic control contexts. Analysis reveal that deep reinforcement learning excels in various applications, especially in dynamic production control tasks. Its efficacy can be attributed to its interactive learning and real-time operational model. However, despite its evident utility, there are notable structural, organizational, and algorithmic gaps in the prevailing research. A predominant portion of deep reinforcement learning based approaches is limited to specific job shop scenarios and often overlooks the potential synergies in combined resources. Furthermore, it highlights the rare implementation of multi-agent systems and semi-heterarchical systems in practical settings. A notable gap remains in the integration of deep reinforcement learning into a hyper-heuristic.
To bridge these research gaps, this thesis introduces a deep reinforcement learning based hyper- heuristic for the control of modular production systems, developed in accordance with the design science research methodology. Implemented within a semi-heterarchical multi-agent framework, this approach achieves a threefold reduction in control and optimisation complexity while ensuring high scalability, adaptability, and robustness of the system. In comparative benchmarks, this control methodology outperforms rule-based heuristics, reducing throughput times and tardiness, and effectively incorporates customer and order-centric metrics. The control artifact facilitates a rapid scenario generation, motivating for further research efforts and bridging the gap to real-world applications. The overarching goal is to foster a synergy between theoretical insights and practical solutions, thereby enriching scientific discourse and addressing current industrial challenges.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system customization is often necessary because companies have unique processes that provide their competitive advantage. Despite new technological advances such as cloud computing or model-driven development, technical ERP customization options are either outdated or ambiguously formulated in the scientific literature. Using a systematic literature review (SLR) that analyzes 137 definitions from 26 papers, the result is an analysis and aggregation of technical customization types by providing clearance and aligning with future organizational needs. The results show a shift from ERP code modification in on-premises systems to interface and integration customization in cloud ERP systems, as well as emerging technological opportunities as a way for customers and key users to perform system customization. The study contributes by providing a clear understanding of given customization types and assisting ERP users and vendors in making customization decisions.
Die 2016 verabschiedeten Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) der Vereinten Nationen sind Referenzrahmen von Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien auf Bundes- Landes- und kommunaler Ebene geworden. Städte rückten im Zuge der Agenda 2030 in den Mittelpunkt. Ihre Verwaltungen befinden sich dabei in einem herausfordernden Spannungsfeld: Einerseits haben die SDGs den holistischen Anspruch, vollständig in das Handeln der Kommunen integriert zu werden. Andererseits ist für eine effektive Umsetzung eine starke Anpassung der SDGs an den lokalen Kontext notwendig. Die vorliegende Arbeit betrachtet anhand einer Fallstudie die Frage, wie Kommunen die Nachhaltigkeitsziele der Vereinten Nationen in ihre Handlungsprogramme und Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien übersetzen, und welche Faktoren Einfluss auf diesen Prozess haben. Dabei wird ein translationstheoretischer Ansatz verwendet, der die Übertragung einer Idee in einen lokalen Kontext als aktiven Transfer versteht, bei dem das Handeln der beteiligten Akteure und deren Konstruktion der aufzunehmenden Idee im Fokus steht. Die Translation wird mit Hilfe von qualitativen Interviews nachvollzogen und analysiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die SDGs zwar anhand ihrer Relevanz für die Kommune gefiltert werden, der normative Anspruch der SDGs aber erhalten bleibt und angesichts des als gering beurteilten Fortschritts der Kommune besonderes Gewicht erhält. Zentrale Einflussfaktoren für die Translation sind die verfügbaren personellen und finanziellen Ressourcen, die Akzeptanz für die SDGs in Verwaltung, Politik und Gesellschaft und nicht zuletzt das persönliche Engagement einzelner Verwaltungsmitarbeiter*innen.
Das Industrielle Internet der Dinge (engl. Industrial Internet of Things) findet zunehmend Einzug in die unternehmerische Praxis. Neben der Digitalisierung industrieller Fertigungsprozesse zeichnet sich auch eine zunehmende firmenübergreifende Integration von Daten, Informationen und Wissen als Grundlage für die Koordination gemeinsamer Wertschöpfungsaktivitäten ab. Neben zahlreichen Potenzialen birgt das IIoT viele Herausforderungen für die unternehmerische Praxis und hat weitreichenden Einfluss auf die Arbeits- und Betriebsorganisation. Wir befinden uns erst am Beginn der Erforschung von Chancen und Risiken des industriellen Internets der Dinge und können mit der zielgerichteten Gestaltung einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Erschließung der Potenziale leisten.
Der vorliegende Band gibt einen Einblick in die vielfältigen Forschungsergebnisse der Mitglieder der Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft für Arbeits- und Betriebsorganisation zu diesem Thema. Dabei werden die Potenziale und Herausforderungen, welche mit der zunehmenden Verbreitung des industriellen Internets der Dinge verbunden sind, mit wissenschaftlichem Fokus behandelt und durch praktische Anwendungen verdeutlicht.
Creative thinking is an indispensable cognitive skill that is becoming increasingly important. In the present research, we tested the impact of games on creativity and emotions in a between-subject online experiment with four conditions (N = 658). (1) participants played a simple puzzle game that allowed many solutions (priming divergent thinking); (2) participants played a short game that required one fitting solution (priming convergent thinking); (3) participants performed mental arithmetic; (4) passive control condition. Results show that divergent and convergent creativity were higher after playing games and lower after mental arithmetic. Positive emotions did not function as a mediator, even though they were also heightened after playing the games and lower after mental arithmetic. However, contrary to previous research, we found no direct effect of emotions, creative self-efficacy, and growth- vs. fixed on creative performance. We discuss practical implications for digital learning and application settings.