@misc{ThommesAkkermanBorn, author = {Thommes, Kirsten and Akkerman, Agnes and Born, Marieke}, title = {Peer influence on protest participation: Communication and trust between co-workers as inhibitors or facilitators of mobilization}, series = {Social Science Research}, volume = {56}, journal = {Social Science Research}, issn = {1096-0317}, doi = {10.1016/j.ssresearch.2015.11.003}, pages = {58 -- 72}, abstract = {In this article, we investigate how communication and trust networks between employees affect participation in a strike. We analyze whether the strength of network relations is related to congruence in strike behavior using social network data on 59 Dutch workers. We find that private communication networks and trust networks lead to similar strike behavior. This finding indicates that networks not only promote protest mobilization but are also vehicles for demobilization, albeit through different network relations.}, language = {en} } @misc{OertelThommesWalgenbach, author = {Oertel, Simon and Thommes, Kirsten and Walgenbach, Peter}, title = {Organizational Failure in the Aftermath of Radical Institutional Change}, series = {Organization Studies}, volume = {37}, journal = {Organization Studies}, number = {8}, issn = {1741-3044}, doi = {10.1177/0170840615622071}, pages = {1067 -- 1087}, abstract = {This paper focuses on the question of the extent to which the institutional founding environment affects organizational success after a radical institutional change. We analyse firms founded in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) that experienced the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990 and focus on how the institutional environment of their founding period influences their failure rates. Results show that organizational failure rates vary after institutional change due to differences in institutional founding conditions. This variation is influenced by the degree of (dis)similarity between the imprinted past and the present institutional context. Discussing the time-varying effect of institutional founding conditions, we contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of imprinting and organizational failure in situations of institutional change.}, language = {en} } @misc{Thommes, author = {Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {Entrepreneurial activity - The impact of childhood}, series = {Annual meeting proceedings, Academy of Management}, journal = {Annual meeting proceedings, Academy of Management}, number = {1}, pages = {13740}, language = {de} } @misc{ThommesOertel, author = {Thommes, Kirsten and Oertel, Simon}, title = {Elements of Organizational Identity and the Role of a Firm's History}, series = {Annual meeting proceedings, Academy of Management}, journal = {Annual meeting proceedings, Academy of Management}, number = {1}, pages = {13754}, language = {en} } @misc{ThommesGrund, author = {Thommes, Kirsten and Grund, Christian}, title = {The Role of Contract Types for Employees' Public Service Motivation}, series = {Schmalenbach Business Review}, journal = {Schmalenbach Business Review}, issn = {1439-2917}, doi = {10.1007/s41464-017-0033-z}, abstract = {The intention of "doing good for society" is regarded to be a crucial motivator for employees in the public sector in order for them to perform well. Recent research in the public sector literature calls for a deeper understanding of how this specific public service motivation (PSM) is shaped. In our paper, we analyze how different degrees of inclusion in the public sector matter for PSM. We investigate how prospects of employment relations (fixed-term versus permanent contracts) and temporal differences (part-time versus full-time employment) moderate PSM in the public and in the private service. Our findings show that aspects of PSM are related by these employment characteristics in various ways, suggesting that the factors influencing PSM are multifaceted and that actual employment conditions need to be taken into consideration when assessing PSM.}, language = {en} } @misc{ThommesKlabuhn, author = {Thommes, Kirsten and Klabuhn, Janny}, title = {Age diversity and its effects on team performance}, series = {Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings}, journal = {Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings}, number = {1}, issn = {2151-6561}, doi = {10.5465/AMBPP.2017.108}, pages = {1 -- 6}, language = {en} } @misc{ThommesAkkerman, author = {Thommes, Kirsten and Akkerman, Agnes}, title = {Clean up your network - How a strike changed the social networks of a working team}, series = {Team Performance Management}, volume = {24}, journal = {Team Performance Management}, number = {1/2}, issn = {1352-7592}, doi = {10.1108/TPM-06-2017-0031}, pages = {43 -- 63}, language = {en} } @misc{GrundHarbringThommes, author = {Grund, Christian and Harbring, Christine and Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {Group (Re-)formation in Public Good Games: The Tale of the Bad Apple?}, series = {Journal of Economic Behavior \& Organization}, volume = {145}, journal = {Journal of Economic Behavior \& Organization}, issn = {0167-2681}, doi = {10.1016/j.jebo.2017.11.009}, pages = {306 -- 319}, language = {en} } @incollection{Thommes, author = {Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {Managementpraktiken in KMU}, series = {Controlling f{\"u}r kleine und mittlere Unternehmen}, booktitle = {Controlling f{\"u}r kleine und mittlere Unternehmen}, editor = {M{\"u}ller, David}, edition = {2. Auflage}, publisher = {De Gruyter Oldenbourg}, address = {Berlin}, isbn = {978-3-11-051487-2}, doi = {10.1515/9783110517163-015}, pages = {368 -- 393}, language = {de} } @misc{OertelThommes, author = {Oertel, Simon and Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {History as a source of organizational identity creation}, series = {Organization Studies}, volume = {39}, journal = {Organization Studies}, number = {12}, issn = {1741-3044}, doi = {10.1177/0170840618800112}, pages = {1709 -- 1731}, language = {en} } @misc{OertelThommesWalgenbach, author = {Oertel, Simon and Thommes, Kirsten and Walgenbach, Peter}, title = {Shadows of the past: The effect of communist heritage on employee consultation}, series = {Industrial and Labor Relations Review}, volume = {69}, journal = {Industrial and Labor Relations Review}, number = {3}, issn = {2162-271X}, doi = {10.1177/0019793916639554}, pages = {683 -- 713}, language = {en} } @misc{ThommesKlabuhn, author = {Thommes, Kirsten and Klabuhn, Janny}, title = {Age and tenure diversity on the work floor - evidence from a natural field experiment in production}, series = {Evidence-Based HRM}, volume = {9}, journal = {Evidence-Based HRM}, number = {1}, issn = {2049-3991}, doi = {10.1108/EBHRM-04-2019-0033}, pages = {95 -- 117}, abstract = {Purpose - Past research on how to compose a team is ambiguous, especially with respect to diversity dimensions. The authors argue that previous inconsistencies in results have arisen for two main reasons. First, there is a lack of clarity about the concept of age diversity, as age separation, age variety and age disparity are frequently used synonymously, but capture very different aspects of diversity. Second, in many research settings, age and tenure diversity have been intertwined. When staffing teams, many staff managers ask for staffing advise concerning staff diversity in order to enhance efficiency. This staffing problem is mainly a question how homogeneous and heterogeneous teams should be composed. In this paper, the authors capture both - age and tenure diversity - as well as their interaction and argue that age separation and tenure variety are most likely to affect team performance in a routine task. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach - The authors are testing the hypothesis using rich quantitative field data from a steel company. Findings - The results show that age separation decreases performance while tenure variety increases performance. Moreover, the beneficial effects of tenure variety cannot arise when age separation is too large. Research limitations/implications - The authors show that diversity research is very sensitive to the operationalization of diversity. Practical implications - Managers can benefit from the study by learning how to optimally staff teams: while age diversity should be low, tenure diversity can be high. Originality/value - Due to the unique data set, the authors can separate the influence of tenure and age diversity. Keywords Personnel economics, Organizational behaviour, Human resource management (general), Work performance and productivity, Teamwork Paper type Research paper}, language = {en} } @misc{HoffmannThommes, author = {Hoffmann, Christin and Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {Using loss aversion to incentivize energy efficiency in a principal-agent context—Evidence from a field experiment}, series = {Economics Letters}, volume = {Volume 189}, journal = {Economics Letters}, doi = {10.1016/j.econlet.2020.108984}, pages = {4}, abstract = {Promoting energy-efficient behavior of agents in a principal-agent context simultaneously decreases costs for firms and mitigates CO2 emissions. Along this line, we analyze the effect of incentive framing on energy-efficient driving behavior. Our results contribute to the understanding of the drawbacks of loss framing. In a situation with persistent labor market relations, an extremely low bonus, and heterogeneous prior performance, the introduction of a bonus framed as a gain outperforms that of a bonus framed as a loss.}, language = {en} } @misc{GoldbachHoffmannHoppeetal., author = {Goldbach, Carina and Hoffmann, Christin and Hoppe, Julia Amelie and Pitz, Thomas and Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {The fast and the furious—An experimental investigation of the pace of life and risky speed choice in traffic}, series = {PLOS ONE}, volume = {15}, journal = {PLOS ONE}, number = {7}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0236589}, abstract = {Despite discernible improvements in the last decades, speeding is still a pertinent problem for road safety, fuel efficiency, and greenhouse gas mitigation. In order to understand individual speeding decisions, we need a better understanding of who speeds. In our paper, we test whether individuals' general pace of life is associated with speeding decisions. We use a novel speed-choice experiment that confronts participants with a scenario in which they repeatedly decide between driving fast or slow. This decision is associated with different accident risks. Before the experiment, each participant's pace of life was measured. Our results show that individuals with a slower pace of life are more likely to choose slow in the experiment and are also more likely to switch to slow, even when they had success by driving fast in the preliminary round. Therefore, individuals' pace of life may contribute to our understanding of speeding.}, language = {en} } @misc{HoffmannThommes, author = {Hoffmann, Christin and Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {Combining Egalitarian and Proportional Sharing rules in Team Tournaments to Incentivize Energy-Efficient Behavior in a Principal-Agent Context}, series = {Organization \& Environment}, volume = {35 (2022)}, journal = {Organization \& Environment}, number = {2}, issn = {1552-7417}, doi = {10.1177/1086026620945343}, pages = {307 -- 331}, abstract = {Triggering the energy-efficient behavior of agents in firms simultaneously decreases costs and mitigates CO2 emissions. If firms use team tournaments to increase energy-efficient behavior and thus employee performance, they may face unintended consequences, like a bifurcation effect: Individuals drop out if they believe that they cannot win the contest. By contrast, high-performing employees may overexert themselves. Additionally, some individuals might be tempted to free-ride. In a field experiment with truck drivers, we analyze whether proportional sharing of the bonus within teams based on individual effort instead of egalitarian sharing reduces both bifurcation and free-riding during team tournaments. Our results reveal that (1) the team contest improves performance; (2) this increase in performance is overall slightly stronger under the proportional than under the egalitarian sharing rule, using ceteris paribus comparisons; and (3) the performance increase is mainly driven by the team member performing worse.}, language = {en} } @misc{HoffmannThommes, author = {Hoffmann, Christin and Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {Can digital feedback increase employee performance and energy efficiency in firms? Evidence from a field experiment}, series = {Journal of Economic Behavior \& Organization}, volume = {180}, journal = {Journal of Economic Behavior \& Organization}, issn = {0167-2681}, doi = {10.1016/j.jebo.2020.09.034}, pages = {49 -- 65}, abstract = {Giving performance feedback to increase employee productivity has shown ambiguous results: Many laboratory studies have demonstrated a statistically significant effect of feedback on performance, but the effect is less evident in the field. In addition, the effects of digital feedback are not well understood. This feedback differs from other types of feedback as it is personalized, but not generated and provided by another human, e.g., the supervisor, but by a machine. We conducted a field experiment in which we introduced digital feedback to improve truck drivers' performance by enhancing their energy-efficient driving behavior. Our results show that digital feedback led to a statistically significant but small overall improvement in energy efficiency and performance that is driven by the improvement of initially very good- and very bad-performing drivers. This effect is robust, even when considering the differences in the room for improvement relative to the initial performance.}, language = {en} } @misc{HoffmannThommes, author = {Hoffmann, Christin and Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {Seizing the Opportunity for Automation—How Traffic Density Determines Truck Drivers' Use of Cruise Control}, series = {IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems}, volume = {52}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems}, number = {6}, issn = {2168-2291}, doi = {10.1109/THMS.2022.3212335}, pages = {1205 -- 1215}, language = {en} } @misc{HoffmannThommes, author = {Hoffmann, Christin and Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {Can leaders motivate employees' energy-efficient behavior with thoughtful communication?}, series = {Journal of Environmental Economics and Management}, volume = {125}, journal = {Journal of Environmental Economics and Management}, pages = {24}, abstract = {We study the effect of an employer's communication concerning energy-efficient behavior on a firm's employees' behavioral responses. The management aims to enhance energy-efficient behavior performance by irregularly sending online messages to remote employees. We break down each message, analyzing the positive or negative emotions conveyed, collective or individual orientation, and ease of language. Comparing employees' daily energy efficiency after receiving a message to their daily performance without a previous message, we find that messages generally result in an immediate increase in efficiency. Messages conveying negative emotions and those making a distinction between the manager and the employees have a smaller effect than messages conveying positive emotions and emphasizing a collective orientation that includes both the management and employees. Additionally, shorter messages are more likely to induce improved efficiency. Sending messages significantly impacts driver performance for up to six days after the message, resulting in economically relevant cost reductions.}, language = {en} } @misc{HoffmannThommes, author = {Hoffmann, Christin and Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {Can leaders motivate employees' energy-efficient behavior with thoughtful communication?}, series = {Journal of Environmental Economics and Management}, volume = {125}, journal = {Journal of Environmental Economics and Management}, issn = {0095-0696}, doi = {10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102990}, pages = {1 -- 24}, abstract = {We study the effect of an employer's communication concerning energy-efficient behavior on a firm's employees' behavioral responses. The management aims to enhance energy-efficient behavior performance by irregularly sending online messages to remote employees. We break down each message, analyzing the positive or negative emotions conveyed, collective or individual orientation, and ease of language. Comparing employees' daily energy efficiency after receiving a message to their daily performance without a previous message, we find that messages generally result in an immediate increase in efficiency. Messages conveying negative emotions and those making a distinction between the manager and the employees have a smaller effect than messages conveying positive emotions and emphasizing a collective orientation that includes both the management and employees. Additionally, shorter messages are more likely to induce improved efficiency. Sending messages significantly impacts driver performance for up to six days after the message, resulting in economically relevant cost reductions.}, language = {en} } @misc{HoffmannThommes, author = {Hoffmann, Christin and Thommes, Kirsten}, title = {Clear Roads and Dirty Air? Indirect effects of reduced private traffic congestion on emissions from heavy traffic}, series = {Journal of Cleaner Production}, volume = {381,2}, journal = {Journal of Cleaner Production}, issn = {0959-6526}, doi = {10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135053}, language = {en} }