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Applying experimental methods, this dissertation examines strategies for increasing the efficiency of cognitive skill accumulation in higher education and deepens the understanding about drivers of outcomes from teamwork. The dissertation is divided into three parts. Part I introduces a novel infrastructure for experimental research that paves the way for all studies of this thesis. It consists of Chapter 1 reporting on the implementation of a student crowdworking platform and Chapter 2 presenting an extensive set of administrative university data that can be linked to the platform data. Part II provides evidence from three separate randomized controlled trials to increase human capital gains in higher education. Chapter 3 analyzes the effectiveness of feedback, Chapter 4 of mentoring, and Chapter 5 of tutoring, all of which serve as instruments to improve student outcomes in higher education. Part III presents experimental evidence on the impact the gender composition of teams has on team interaction in Chapter 6. Overall, gained insights will hopefully contribute to shaping effective strategies for human capital accumulation. In addition, the implemented novel infrastructure may advance tools for conducting experimental research.
The digital transformation of organizations reveals multiple business areas where novel digital technologies such as big data analytics (BDA) can be utilized to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of supply chain management (SCM). BDA changes the way how strategic, tactical and operational decisions are made in SCM reinforcing the paradigm shift towards data-driven decision-making. It empowers the processing of available information for humans, systems and machines which leads to superior decisions. Different areas in SCM can benefit from faster and optimized decision-making despite targeting multiple objectives at the same time. Especially in disruptive situations, faster decision-making through BDA can result in significant value-add for organizations and humanity. Similarly, optimized decisions under consideration of trade-off balancing can assist not only in regular sales and operations planning (S&OP) decision rounds, but also in sustainability-related decision-making where economic, environmental and social factors require a continuous weighting.
This dissertation contains four research papers based on two different methodologies and culminates in comprehensive insights on the interplay between BDA and multiple supply chain (SC) areas as well as SC collaboration for improved sustainability. An embedded single case study on the global agrochemical industry explores BDA capability development in a S&OP context. Two systematic literature reviews (SLR) provide a comprehensive review on BDA research related to supply chain resilience (SCRES) and sustainable SCM. Another single case study on the chemical industry in China contains insights on sustainability-related and collaboration-related barriers for sustainable SC collaboration. The essays craft new insights on the digital SC transformation through BDA for improved integrated business planning, risk management, sustainable SC practices and SC collaboration. The studies report on required capabilities, uncovered barriers and application areas for BDA. Consequently, the developed frameworks and propositions provide guidance to practitioners, policy-makers as well as researchers through theory extension.
The first research paper, “Enabling integrated business planning through big data analytics: a case study on sales and operations planning,” aims to close the research gap in S&OP literature on the enabling relationship between BDA capabilities and S&OP performance. The single case study on a multinational company in the agrochemical industry with 11 countries as embedded sub-units of analysis results in six propositions to improve the performance of S&OP through BDA capability development. The analyses of 23 semi-structured interviews, four cross-functional workshops, multiple S&OP meetings and additional secondary data provide in-depth insights on information processing requirements and information processing capacities according to the organizational information processing theory (OIPT).
The second research paper, “Resilience through analytics: a systematic literature review on supply chain resilience enabled by big data analytics,” targets to investigate the enabling role of BDA on SCRES by providing a capability assessment for SCRES and BDA. The SLR results in 57 relevant publications which demonstrate the declining intensity of BDA utilization along the individual readiness, responsiveness and recovery phases of SCRES prior to, during and after disruptions. Further, the SLR reveals which SCRES capabilities are enabled most by BDA according to current literature. The enhanced SCRES framework serves as decision-support system for academics, practitioners and policy-makers for investment decisions to improve the resilience of organizations or entire SCs.
The third research paper, “Exploit more data for more sustainability: a systematic literature review on big data analytics for sustainable supply chain management,” focuses on the interplay between BDA solutions and sustainability in SCM as well as its impact on the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations according to extant literature. The SLR synthesizes 64 publications from different perspectives and results in five emerging research themes which highlight that BDA can enable SCM practices to achieve five of the 17 SDGs. The developed research roadmap outlines research gaps on the intersection of BDA and sustainable SCM in relation to collaboration, knowledge creation, circular economy, supply network optimization and infrastructure innovations. By that, future research paths are recommended to pave the way for further scholars to examine how BDA adoption affects the five mentioned sustainability areas in SCM.
The fourth research paper, “Barriers for sustainable supply chain collaboration in emerging markets: a case study approach,” examines barriers for collaborative SC practices to improve sustainability in emerging and less developed economies by utilizing a single case research design through the lens of the stakeholder theory and the intra-organizational influence theory (IOIT). 15 semi-structured interviews with SC or sustainability experts resulted in primary data which was extended with secondary data from company internal and external documents. The investigation led to seven insightful propositions about the mitigation of identified sustainability-related and collaboration-related barriers and guidance for stakeholders how to influence barrier mitigation. Practitioners are guided by the developed framework with mitigation practices while research fellows are encouraged by the findings to further investigate the application of IOIT in collaborative SC contexts.
3D metaverse platforms are gaining popularity in various fields as they facilitate the creation of social and immersive experiences. However, the potential of this emerging phenomenon for science communication has hardly been considered so far. Therefore, we developed a game on the metaverse platform Roblox that transfers knowledge about an innovative treatment for an autoimmune disease and examined how it is perceived by users. We conducted a user study based on think aloud protocols and a survey and investigated user enjoyment, perceived im- mersion, and perceived learning. The findings imply that science communication on metaverse platforms has the potential to convey complex scientific knowledge in a tangible, engaging, and cooperative manner and should be investigated further.
The current business environment is characterized by numerous challenges and rapid developments, including a high level of uncertainty, hyper-competition, market globalization, rising innovations in products and services, and severe turbulence. In such an increasingly dynamic business environment, uncertainty and risk have become important constructs. Companies are undergoing a transformation and therefore need to adapt their corporate structures and strategies to current economic, technological, geopolitical, social, and environmental challenges and take a holistic approach to dealing with uncertainties as they arise.
Motivated by this observation, the five studies in this cumulative dissertation address these issues and contribute to how firms can achieve competitive advantage in an era of environmental dynamism by scanning the environment in the context of
sustainability (P-I) and resilience (P-II), investigating necessary capabilities in digital servitization (P-III) and resilience (P-IV), and exploring the reconfiguration of capabilities in the context of sustainability (P-V). The dynamic capabilities view is integrated into the thesis to theoretically frame the higher-level findings by placing the publications loosely around the three steps of the dynamic capabilities view (sensing, seizing, and transforming). The five publications are complemented by a
commentary (P-VI) that serves as a thematic excursus investigating scientific theory in futures and foresight science. The conclusion reached in this dissertation is that the increasing collaboration between supply chain actors, the use of digital technologies (e.g., digital industrial platforms) and the rise of supply ecosystems emerge as important developments in a dynamic business environment. The six publications included in this dissertation are summarized in Table A-I and briefly outlined in the following.
The first research paper (P-I), “The future role of reverse logistics as a tool for sustainability in food supply chains: A Delphi-based scenario study”, is based on the increasing importance of sustainability, which is particularly noticeable in the food supply chain due to the unsustainable use of raw materials and the growing amount of food waste. Companies face unfamiliar challenges if they want to build competitive advantages and position themselves for the future. To address these challenges, the study explores the concept of reverse logistics and the uncertainties associated with implementing reverse logistics as a sustainability tool in corporate operations. The focus is on the development of reverse logistics as a corporate strategy and the associated barriers and drivers in the evolution of such a strategy. Based on a literature review, semi-structured interviews, and expert workshops with a heterogeneous panel of professionals, 14 projections for the future of reverse logistics in the food industry are developed, providing a deep and broad insight into the relevant issues. In a real-time Delphi study, a total of 49 experts in the field of logistics, reverse logistics, and food logistics evaluate these future projections regarding impact, estimated probability, and desirability of occurrence. Three possible future scenarios emerge from the results of the survey, predicting the general development of reverse logistics in the food industry in Germany in 2040. Furthermore, potential drivers and barriers that companies in the food sector, the government, and society need to consider to enable a successful transition in implementing reverse logistics in the food industry are examined. The results support a decision-making process for the sustainable alignment of business practices that leads to enhanced competitiveness and a more resilient organizational strategy. Various insights are presented on the implications for society, policymakers, and practitioners to foster reverse logistics. From a methodological perspective, the article complements other Delphi studies by using a quantitative analysis of dissent and sentiment, taking into account a number of deep-level and surface-level diversity characteristics.
The second research article (P-II), “Building resilience through foresight: The case of maritime container shipping firms”, also deals with scanning the environment but takes the perspective of resilience. The essay focuses on the maritime container shipping industry - the backbone of global supply chains - and its increasingly uncertain environment due to the emergence of global trends and disruptions as well as the consequences of companies addressing these uncertainties and reconfiguring organizational resources to build resilience in an ever-changing business environment. This need is intensified because maritime container shipping firms tend to be capital intensive, leading to challenges adjusting and reacting to fundamental changes. The paper addresses this fact, examines the necessary dynamic capabilities for such a turbulent business environment, and shows what changes the macro-environment of maritime container shipping firms will experience in the future, demonstrating that it is essential for this industry to engage with future developments using foresight methods. Applying a Delphi-based scenario analysis, the study systematically develops scenarios for maritime container shipping firms’ macro environment by creating 12 projections based on intensive desk research, expert interviews, and an expert workshop. Various maritime industry experts are involved in this process, considering diverse aspects to predict potential disruptive events and transformations. The projections are then evaluated by 51 maritime experts, resulting in three different scenarios that provide maritime container shipping company executives with valuable insights into short-term, mid-term, and long-term industry developments including multi-faceted influencing factors. Providing detailed scenarios for the future macro-environment of maritime container shipping, the article serves as a guide for decision-makers to build dynamic capabilities in maritime container shipping firms to increase resilience. In addition, the paper elaborates numerous implications for research that need to be considered in a supportive manner to prepare the maritime container shipping industry for future disruptive events. Furthermore, the study contributes to the scholarly focus on in-depth diversity analysis in the Delphi methodology emphasizing the involvement of diverse stakeholders and panelists in in planning for the future.
The third scientific publication (P-III), “Capabilities of digital servitization: Evidence from the socio-technical systems theory”, is grounded in the two overarching themes from the previous futures studies - the growing societal discourse and increasing demand for sustainable goods and solutions as well as increasing global disruptive events such as the Covid-19 pandemic - and addresses digital servitization as a possible business strategy for manufacturing companies in dealing with these challenging trends. Digital servitization results from the two intertwined trends Industry 4.0 and servitization, and the resulting shift from providing products and services to offering smart product-service systems is still ambiguous to companies and poses major challenges for them. The paper empirically examines what capabilities must be developed in the course of digital servitization. An multiple case study is performed using semi-structured interviews with 18 representatives of four manufacturing companies offering smart product-service systems and six representatives of companies in a supporting role, supplemented with various additional data sources. To capture the interdependencies and complementarities of external and internal factors relevant for providing a smart product-service system, a socio-technical systems perspective is adopted. As a result, the study identifies 46 digital servitization capabilities to offer and perform smart product-service system and categorizes them in a systematic manner within the dimensions of sociotechnical systems theory, offering companies numerous insights into successful digital servitization. Findings support academic and practical knowledge of digital servitization by identifying the capabilities to provide and perform smart product-service system and by underpinning the use of socio-technical systems theory to systematically classify these capabilities.
The fourth essay (P-IV), entitled “Transforming resilience in the context of a pandemic: Results from a cross-industry case study exploring supply chain viability”, focuses on supply chain resilience and provides insights from the Covid-19 pandemic. The research study is based on the assumption that traditional resilience capabilities may not be appropriate in the unique situations of so-called super disruptions. This fact is particularly evident in the case of long, globally distributed, and interconnected supply chains such as those in the manufacturing industry (e.g., automotive, electronics, and medical devices), which are affected by ripple effects, demand fluctuations, lead-time variations, and disruptions in network structures. As supply chain resilience transcends corporate boundaries and should be considered more comprehensively, the article examines the necessary resilience capabilities that need to be developed by companies operating in interconnected supply chains. The article employs an exploratory research design in the form of an embedded multiple case study. Using the dynamic capabilities view and the relational view as a theoretical foundation, the essay examines the intertwined supply chains of the automotive, electronics, and medical device industries. Findings from a two-stage interview process with 18 supply chain and production experts interviewed at two different points during the pandemic as well as secondary data sources provide the data foundation. The result includes seven higher-level capability groups for building resilience in interconnected supply chains, to which a total of 24 dynamic and relational capabilities are assigned. Thus, the results of the study extend previous research on SC resilience with further pandemic-specific empirical findings and a focus on the inter-firm perspective.
The fifth research article (P-V), “Managing sustainability in multi-tier supply chains: Empirical insights from the food supply chain”, draws attention to sustainability in the food industry and the increasing customer awareness and stakeholder pressure for transparency and sustainability that is prompting companies not only to implement their own sustainability practices but also to look more closely at the practices of their suppliers. In this context, the paper deals with multi-tier supply chains and investigates which sustainability strategies are applied to manage long and globally distributed suppliers and which factors influence this application. Drawing from the perspective of contingency theory, the study applies an embedded multiple case study investigating six supply chains with different food products. The data sample consists of 24 interviews with focal companies and their suppliers. The results show differences in the implementation of sustainability efforts depending on the respective sustainability dimension. Several sustainability strategies were identified that depend on multiple contingency factors. The findings are supported by various activities that the companies implement in their supply chains to manage sustainability. By examining multi-tier supply chains in the food industry, taking into account the triple bottom line approach, the article provides empirical findings in an area that has hardly been researched so far and validates previous theoretical assumptions. Through the analyzed approaches, associated contingency factors, and activities, the study provides the foundation for managers to choose an appropriate strategy for the implementation of sustainability.
The sixth essay (P-VI) is a commentary entitled “A bibliometric review of scientific theory in futures and foresight: A commentary on Fergnani and Chermack 2021”; it serves as a methodological excursion to the two futures studies in this dissertation (P-I and P-II) and includes an analysis of scientific theories in futures and foresight research. The commentary refers to an original research article in the journal Futures & Foresight Science that provides an argumentative explanation of the lack of theoretical grounding in the foresight discipline and provides possible recommendations for further evolution in the scientific domain. The commentary expands on this conceptual discussion by examining 50 years of research in futures and foresight science through a bibliometric analysis. The review includes 47,049 articles in 22 different futures research journals, of which 151 articles met the final search criteria. The results are various analyses of the content of the studies based on quantitative indicators (e.g., citation, authorships, and institutional patterns). Several ideas are derived from the results that extend previous research and contribute to the annotated original article by providing additional insights.
Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, die Dynamiken stereotyper Darstellungen von Alter und Geschlecht in der Anzeigenwerbung ausgewählter Zeitschriftentitel der Jahre 2000 und 2020 sichtbar zu machen. Hierzu blickt die Arbeit zunächst auf die wissenschaftliche Topographie theoretischer Zugänge der Kategorie Geschlecht und diskutiert deren Relevanz und Praktikabilität für die Kommunikationswissenschaft. Der Fokus ist auch auf die Frage gerichtet, wie die Kategorie Geschlecht jenseits der Binarität weiblich/männlich empirisch operationalisiert werden kann. Der Kategorie Alter begegnet die Arbeit aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven: So fließen sowohl soziodemographische Dynamiken, gerontologische Konzepte, Ansätze zur Strukturierung des Alters sowie Diskurse über den Kampf gegen das Altern in die Betrachtungen dieser Kategorie ein. Ein besonderes Augenmerk liegt dabei auch auf den Intersektionen von Alter und Geschlecht sowie auf der Frage, welche Implikationen ein double standard of aging für Frauen und Männer bereithält. In einem weiteren Kapitel beleuchtet die Arbeit eingehend den Stereotyp-Begriff. Neben der begrifflichen Abgrenzung und Definition, wer-den bestehende Befunde über gesellschaftlich konventionalisierte Alters- und Geschlechterstereotype zusammengetragen. Darüber hinaus befasst sich die Arbeit mit dem besonderen Stellenwert von Medien im Kontext lebenslanger Sozialisationsprozesse und erläutert, warum der Werbung bei der Entstehung und Verbreitung von Stereotypen eine besondere Rolle zukommt.
Neben jenen theoretischen Bezügen dienen kulturhistorische Betrachtungen von Alter und Geschlecht in der Werbung sowie die Aufarbeitung des Forschungsstandes der Sichtbarmachung von langfristigen Entwicklungen stereotyper Darstellungen jener Kategorien seit dem Beginn der frühen Wirtschaftswerbung sowie der Herleitung und Ausformulierung der im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit zu beantwortenden Forschungsfragen.
Mit der Methode der quantitativen Bildinhaltsanalyse erfasst und analysiert die Arbeit 2.041 Personendarstellungen in der Anzeigenwerbung mit dem Ziel, einen umfassenden Überblick über stereotype Darstellungen von Alter und Geschlecht zu erhalten. Die ausformulierten Forschungsfragen gliedern sich dabei nach thematischen Kategorien, die nicht nur die von Frauen und Männern oder von verschiedenen Altersgruppen beworbenen Produktkategorien untersuchen, sondern auch nach Veränderungen in den Darstellungskontexten Beruf, Haushalt und Freizeit sowie nach soziodemographischen Dynamiken, kommunizierten Gratifikationsversprechen oder der dargestellten Lebensweise fragen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass stereotype Darstellungen von Alter und Geschlecht in der Anzeigenwerbung nach wie vor in großem Umfang existieren und dabei sowohl von Konstanz als auch von Veränderung geprägt sind.
Megatrends, such as digitalization, globalization, and demographic shifts, are creating an organizational environment that is more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous than ever before (Stiehm & Townsend, 2002). In addition to geopolitical changes, the technological innovations of digitalization promote the speed of industrial change and introduced the digital age (Kremer, 1993).
The resulting digital technologies, such as AI, Big Data, or Robotics, as well as their economical applications, are crucial for the innovativeness and future viability of organizations. They are revolutionizing the way of working in almost any discipline and across most industries. For example, digital connectivity alone can lead to process adaptations through increased data variety, a focus on customer relationships, independence of time and place, the blurring of hierarchy, and incremental production automation.
Despite the manifold opportunities created by the adaptation of new technologies, it is an intensive, long-term process, especially for industrial companies which produce mainly material goods and whose business models predate the digital age (Mertens et al., 2017; van der Schaft et al., 2020; Voigt, 2008). As a result of comparing the existing and ideal levels of digitization within companies, adaptations vary from process optimization and strengthening of business models to the redefinition of products or complete restructuring of organizations (Wessel et al., 2021).
Especially for traditional companies, this results in a highly scaled, multidimensional transformation process that extends over several years and to many areas of the company, such as strategy, products, processes, employees, culture, and collaboration (Fenlon & McEneaney, 2018; Porfirio et al., 2020). The study by LaClair and Rao (2002) analyzes the success rate of such holistic organizational initiatives. They compare the change initiatives of 40 organizations in different industries and show that 58% of organizations failed to achieve their goals and another 20% only partially achieved their goals.
A review of the common success factors of organizations with high levels of goal achievement showed the constant involvement of leaders at all levels (LaClair & Rao, 2002). Leadership theory was able to deduce decades ago that the involvement and capability of leaders are decisive components of the success of transformation projects. Independent studies, such as the by Hambrick and Mason (1984), who introduced macro-organizational theory, or by change luminary Peter Drucker (1999), created the basis for further analyses and recommendations on conducive leadership behaviors, styles, and characteristics (Schoemaker & Day, 2021; Gilley et al., 2009).
If we examine the specific change process of digital transformation, a survey from 2015 illustrates that 90% of CEOs consider digitalization have a significant impact on their industry, although only 25% surveyed are prepared for the changes as part of an implementation concept (Taylor, 2015).
This is also reflected in the academic community, which reached a consensus on the coherence between the effectiveness of digital transformation and the influence of leaders. However, few academically based analyses on the influences of specific characteristics exist, such as leadership behavior or leadership style, and their practical implications (Porfirio et al., 2021).
Given this background, it is of entrepreneurial relevance to resolve the uncertainties and identify the potentials of successful leadership in the digital age, which may stand for the continued existence of companies, especially traditional companies in German industry.
The dissertation is dedicated to this highly relevant set of topics, and it examines the mechanisms of leadership in the digital age from different research perspectives with the aim of creating a profound theoretical basis and thus contributing to the further development of theoretical and entrepreneurial understanding. To achieve this goal, this thesis presents three articles that examine empirical data obtained either by the author or through published scholarly articles. The first article reviews the state of research in the topic area through a systematic literature review and identifies the characteristics of effective leadership behavior in the digital age based on theoretical findings. Papers two and three provide a scientific evaluation of empirical data collected by the author herself. Paper two addresses the identification of leadership trends in the digital age. Since paper one and two conclude that “digital collaboration” in the leadership context is highly relevant from the perspectives of theory and practice, the third paper is devoted to this topic exclusively within the framework of a qualitative survey of leaders and experts. In addition, it is combined with an analysis of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on this regard. A brief overview of these essays is provided as follows.
Article 1: Effective Leadership Behavior in the Digital Age: A Review and Research Agenda
The first article presents the current state of the discussion and research on the emerging topic of leadership behavior in the digital age. In recent years, the number of publications on this topic has increased, but a systematic review of the literature is still lacking. The article addresses this circumstance, and it aims to identify the manifold theoretical contributions, to summarize the results in a structured way, and to derive implications for business and future research proposals. The results of the articles are based on 49 selected scientific articles which present eight leadership behaviors that are rated as conducive to dealing with digital transformation. These are categorized according to Fiedler’s (1966) effectiveness model into task- and relationship-related criteria. To employ the identified behaviors, it is additionally deduced that leaders require awareness, willingness and readiness concerning the opportunities and risks of digitalization.
Article 2: New Ways of Leadership in the Digital Age: These Trends are Forcing Leaders to Rethink their Existing Leadership Styles
To achieve a holistic and generic understanding of future leadership challenges in the context of digitalization, the next article focuses on examining leadership trends. To identify these seminal implications, the methodology used is a combination of an in-depth expert workshop and a systematic literature review. By selecting the chosen exploratory research design, it is possible to compare leadership trends from theory and practice and identify 21 trends. These are assigned to the following derived, superordinate trends: change of leadership role (individual level), change of collaboration (team level), and change of organizational environment (organizational level). The article thus answers the research question of identifying and characterizing current leadership trends and contributes to the decuviation of common focal areas, as well as differences in leadership trends according to the current state of science and practice.
Article 3: Successful Collaboration in the Digital Age and the Potential Effects Caused by COVID- 19 in this Regard
Building on the findings of the first and second articles, the leadership topic of “digital collaboration” is addressed separately due to its identified relevance to both economics and science. The author applies a qualitative–explorative research design to obtain a detailed picture of the aspects of digital collaboration. For this purpose, after a systematic literature review, experts and leaders in German industry are interviewed about the success factors and challenges of digital collaboration. Because the survey period took place after the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting effects for digital collaboration had to be considered. After analyzing the qualitative interviews and processing the obtained data, seven key factors for digital collaboration were identified, which are divided among the individual, team, and organizational levels. From a practical perspective, the study shows the need for HR support to professionalize systematically this leadership tool and hence empower leaders. The theoretical contribution consists of the analysis and description of the fundamental factors of collaboration in the digital age.
The technology field of artificial intelligence (AI), with all those algorithms and software solutions that are usually counted as a part of it based on their properties, has experienced rapid development in recent years. Intelligent assistants in smartphones, such as Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, or Google's Google Now, have become an integral part of many consumers' lives. And AI is also increasingly being used in various other areas, such as healthcare or finance.
In the industrial manufacturing environment, however, AI has not yet been able to gain a widespread foothold. While this can be partly explained by the quite extensive technical and regulatory requirements as well as the extremely low fault tolerance within this field, there are also reports stating that these things are not the sole reasons for the slow diffusion of AI in the manufacturing sector. Various recent studies cite a lacking overview of the strategic applicability of AI and acceptance problems as further significant inhibitors.
This cumulative dissertation addresses these two problems in a combined manner. Its first goal is to provide a comprehensive overview of the strategic applicability of AI within the manufacturing sector. Its second goal is to outline what factors influence organizations and individuals active in that environment in deciding whether to accept or resist the implementation of AI.
Since the entire manufacturing sector, with all its associated subsegments and an extremely wide range of resulting products, from food and beverages over textiles to heavy machinery, is too heterogeneous for a single work to draw a holistic picture across all the associated subsegments, these two goals are achieved in a roundabout way. This means that for all exploratory data collection activities included in this dissertation, the automotive industry is used as its sample industry. For the confirmatory-descriptive part, it then relies on data collected in the electronics manufacturing environment. With this approach, the thesis at hand provides initial indications regarding the transferability of the findings contained therein within the entire manufacturing sector, without having to rely on enormous amounts of hard-to-obtain primary data from all 24 (!) subsegments of this economically so important sector. Instead, it enables the reader to draw personal inferences from the available results to almost any other industrial subsegment that shares the same boundary conditions as the two aforementioned ones.
The structure of this dissertation, which consists of overall six individual papers divided into four chapters, reflects these two goals and the steps necessary to achieve them. It thereby acts on three different levels of analysis. Chapter 1, mainly contributing to the first goal, acts on the highest, i.e., the industry-wide strategic level. Within Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, which mainly contribute to the second goal, the focus lies on the organizational and the individual level. Chapter 4 then integrates and applies the previously gained theoretical knowledge to the non-automotive practice of electronics manufacturing, thus shedding light on the transferability of the respective findings to subsegments other than automotive. It thereby contributes to both goals equally.
In the overall view, the cumulative dissertation at hand comprises two independent and highly relevant contributions for both research and practice: On the one hand, it provides a comprehensive overview of the applicability of AI within the industrial manufacturing sector in general and in the subsegment of automotive manufacturing in particular. On the other hand, it reveals numerous different factors that influence companies and individuals when it comes to deciding whether they want to use AI or perhaps eventually even resist its implementation. In doing so, the practice-oriented fourth chapter of this dissertation shows how the aforementioned theoretical knowledge can be used to better understand AI-related situations and incidents in industrial practice, drawing on a real-life example project conducted at the Siemens plant in Amberg, Germany.
With these insights, this dissertation contributes to a better understanding of the adoption of a currently booming technology class within one of the most important global economic sectors. In doing so, it can be seen as a small but hopefully all the more important milestone on the road to large-scale diffusion of AI in the industrial manufacturing environment in general and in automotive in particular.
Die Eingliederung von Geflüchteten in den deutschen Arbeitsmarkt stellt einen der zentralen Aspekte gelungener Integration dar. Gerade der dualen Ausbildung kommt dabei eine zentrale Rolle zu, um nicht nur grundsätzlich den Weg in den Arbeitsmarkt zu ermöglichen, sondern gleichzeitig die Sicherung qualifizierter Fachkräfte zu unterstützen. Vor dem Hintergrund der im Vergleich zu Auszubildenden mit deutscher Staatangehörigkeit hohen Quote vorzeitiger Vertragslösungen von geflüchteten Auszubildenden besteht Handlungsbedarf, diesen Prozess mit Blick auf die individuellen Ausbildungsverläufe zu unterstützen und die Auszubildenden zielgerichtet zu fördern. Die vorliegende Dissertation verfolgt das Ziel, gleichzeitig einen Einblick in die Herausforderungen in der dualen Ausbildung von Geflüchteten mit einem Fokus auf vorzeitige Vertragslösungen zu geben und durch das Design eines Mentoringkonzepts Impulse für die Gestaltung von Unterstützungsmaßnahmen zu liefern. Die Arbeit vertieft dazu in der theoretischen Auseinandersetzung die Hintergründe von vorzeitigen Vertragslösungen, präzisiert durch Erkenntnisse der Belastungs- und Stressforschung, sowie die Rahmenbedingungen, bisherigen Forschungsergebnisse und Gestaltungsansätze von Jugendmentoring. Am Ende des Forschungsprozesses steht ein vertieftes Verständnis der individuellen Dynamik von vorzeitigen Vertragslösungsprozessen von geflüchteten Auszubildenden sowie ein Kanon von Gestaltungsprinzipien für das Design von Mentoringmaßnahmen im relevanten Kontext, ergänzt um eine Diskussion der Übertragbarkeit in andere Settings.
Die Verschmelzung der physikalischen und virtuellen Welt prägt die heutigen Lebens- und Arbeitswelten. Neue technische Lösungen meist in Form smarter Produkt-Service-Systeme - sollen individuelle Bedürfnisse und Bedarfe adressieren. Adoptionsprognosen in diesem Kontext erfordern zuverlässige Daten, Informationen und geeignete Analyseinstrumente für die Vorhersage individuellen Verhaltens. Speziell in Vorimplementierungsphasen sind Adoptionsprognosen ein wertvolles Instrument zur Vorhersage künftiger Ereignisse oder Situationen.
Diese Arbeit bietet einen interdisziplinären Einblick in Adoptions- und Akzeptanzprozesse unter Zugrundelegung emotionaler Antizipationen im Sinne der Simulation der zukünftigen Realität menschlicher Entscheidungsprozesse. Die auf Basis eines mehrphasigen Mixed-Methods-Ansatzes gehobenen Erkenntnisse der Arbeit zeigen, dass das thesenbasiert konzipierte und empirisch validierte Affective Adoption Forecasting Framework A²FORE den aktuellen Herausforderungen der Abschätzung individueller Adoptionsentscheidungen vor Markteinführung neuartiger smarter Produkt-Service-Systeme mit besonderem Fokus auf vulnerablen Konsumenten im Gesundheitswesen begegnen kann. A²FORE spiegelt die Nutzbarmachung antizipatorischer Emotionen als Prognoseelement für den Erfolg smarter Produkt-Service-Systeme wider. Dies entspricht der praxisbezogenen Forderung der Entwicklung eines handhabbaren Modells zur Adoptionsprognose auf Basis eines User Acceptance Testings im Rahmen von Vorimplementierungsphasen.
In today’s volatile and uncertain economic environment, family firms are facing a multitude of new challenges such as an increase in global competition and market disruption caused by technological advances and digitalization (e.g., Plötner et al. 2020). To remain competitive, they need to understand and address these challenges systematically. To support them in this endeavor, in this dissertation, I conducted four studies to examine three of these challenges: (1) mastering the digitalization of their business, (2) coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, and (3) accessing capital to finance new in-vestments and remain competitive.
Predictive business process monitoring deals with predicting a process’s future behavior or the value of process-related performance indicators based on process event data. A variety of prototypical predictive business process monitoring techniques has been proposed by researchers in order to help process participants performing business processes better. In practical settings, these techniques have a low predictive quality that is often close to random, so that predictive business process monitoring applications are rare in practice. The inclusion of process-context data has been discussed as a way to improve the predictive quality. Existing approaches have considered only structured data as context. In this paper, we argue that process-related unstructured documents are also a promising source for extracting processcontext data. Accordingly, this research-in-progress paper outlines a design-science research process for creating a predictive business process monitoring technique that utilizes context data from process-related documents to predict a process instance’s next activity more accurately.
Workarounds are performed intentionally by employees to bypass obstacles constraining
their day-to-day work. These obstacles manifest from latent misfits in the interplay of information systems, organizational structure, and human agency. While workarounds are often mandatory for employees to perform their work, they can yield positive and negative effects on an organization’s performance. Process managers are supposed to identify workarounds early, promoting their positive while reducing their negative consequences. While related research has touched upon detecting workarounds in event logs that include data on completed processes, little is known on how to predict workarounds in a running business process. We set out to design a workaround prediction method using a deep learning approach. The IT artifact enables process managers to proactively intervene if workarounds are about to emerge in a business process, reducing their adverse effects while supporting organizational learning and process innovation.
The German automotive industry currently not only faces disruptions in the supply chain but also by new technologies and new competitors. In order to rise to these challenges, project management must be improved and partners along the supply chain must be integrated more tightly. Besides the adoption of more agile methods, another part in accomplishing this, is to provide an interorganizational project management service between all involved partners. In order to improve, we first have to understand the current implementation of project management services between the OEM and suppliers and examine what the different actors expect from these services. This working paper addresses this issue by conducting interviews with project management experts in the automotive industry.
In diesem Werk werden zwei Perspektiven vereint: Die Gestaltung einer Community of Practice zum Thema der Digitalisierung in der Hochschullehre. Ziel ist es, die Lehrenden miteinander zu vernetzen und einen kollegialen Austausch zum Thema der digitalen Lehre zwischen diesen zu fördern. Dazu müssen entsprechende Implementierungs- und Gestaltungsmaßnahmen ergriffen werden. Die Arbeit zeigt einerseits eine handlungspraktische Vorgehensweise auf, andererseits wird dieses Vorgehen forschungsmethodisch begleitet.
In economic theory, entrepreneurship is perceived as a driving force behind the process of creative destruction by introducing innovation to the market, crowding out inefficient businesses, and paving the way for economic growth. One central channel through which entrepreneurial activity can be realized is the founding a new firm (Carree & Thurik, 2003). Numerous empirical studies have investigated the causes of firm entry, the subsequent fate of these young businesses, and their impact on the economy (Geroski, 1995; Wagner, 2006). When assessing the importance of start-ups for economic development, their role in the creation and destruction of jobs is a key component. This thesis argues that start-ups’ role as employers should be evaluated not only by the quantity of jobs they create, but also by the quality of these jobs. If new firms differ from incumbents in terms of hiring patterns or employment conditions, this could have serious and long-lasting implications for the careers and personal lives of their employees. Against this background, the four essays of this thesis present new evidence on the hiring behavior of newly founded establishments, as well as on remuneration and employment prospects of workers joining a start-up.
Chapter 2 of this thesis, which is joint work with Daniel Fackler, Michaela Fuchs, and Claus Schnabel (Fackler et al., 2019), investigates whether risky start-ups’ low appeal to more advantaged job seekers impels them to offer employment opportunities to workers facing disadvantages on the labor market due to, e.g., old age, low qualification, foreign nationality, or previously unstable employment biographies. Results are derived by applying linear probability estimations to a large administrative employer-employee data set for Germany. Indeed, the findings suggest that start-ups are more likely than incumbents to hire several types of disadvantaged workers. Moreover, the study also reveals that start-up employment comes at a cost for workers with disadvantageous characteristics, since the wage penalties associated with these traits are more pronounced in young establishments.
Chapter 3 analyzes whether the previously detected hiring patterns change in times of economic distress, when incumbents’ hiring freeze blocks even advantaged workers from entry into stable, well-paying firms. Investigating employer-employee matches before, during, and after the Great Recession in Germany, the essay finds that workers with advantageous characteristics in terms of age and qualification are more likely to join a start-up during the crisis. Although this shift appears to be mainly driven by adjustments in labor supply on the workers’ side, the underlying incentives seem not in line with conventional theories of cyclical downgrading.
Chapter 4, which is joint work with Daniel Fackler, Claus Schnabel, and Antje Weyh (Fackler et al., 2022), focuses on the long-term consequences of joining a newly founded establishment vis-à-vis an incumbent for the individual worker. By following workers over ten years after their entry in the respective establishment and controlling for selection into start-ups by means of entropy balancing, the study finds large and persistent drawbacks from entering a new establishment in terms of wages and employment prospects. A closer look at worker subgroups and subsequent career paths does not reveal any exception from this pattern.
Chapter 5, a study conducted together with Daniel Fackler (Fackler & Rippe, 2017), presents a closer look at one potential consequence of entering a risky new firm, namely involuntary job loss. This essay uses survey data to examine the relationship between job loss and regional mobility. Although results indicate that job loss strongly increases regional mobility, they do not provide any confirmation for the conjecture that movers outperform stayers in their subsequent labor market careers, as both groups are unable to catch up with non-displaced workers. Hence, the findings emphasize the difficulties to cushion the negative consequences of job loss, a factor that might contribute to the persistently worse career perspectives of workers who joined a start-up.
Concluding, this thesis sheds new light on start-ups’ role as employers. While new businesses offer employment opportunities to disadvantaged workers (at least in times of economic booms), these jobs provide workers with less pay and less options for career advancement than employment at an incumbent establishment would. Thus, this thesis suggests a critical view not only on the quantity, but also on the quality of jobs created by newly founded firms. Concurrently, it leaves room for further research on less tangible dimensions of employment conditions, such as autonomy, responsibility, or the diversity of tasks, as well as on different career paths, such as joiner-to-founder-transitions, to allow for a more comprehensive view on the impact of start-up employment on the labor market as well as on the individual worker.
The social, environmental, and technological imperatives of the 21st century pose significant challenges to today's supply chain management (SCM). The accompanying uncertainties regarding digitalization, sustainability, and supply disruptions raise the question of suitable future supply chain (SC) designs and operations. The five essays of the underlying dissertation address these issues and contribute to rethinking SCM by exploring and connecting digital innovation in SCM, future SC resilience management, and the transition to SC circularity. Valuable insights were derived by applying explorative case study research, systematic literature reviews, and foresight-oriented Delphi techniques. The results provide decision-makers with essential guidance in defining operational, strategic, and digital measures to navigate their SCs within the uncertain and complex environment of technological disruptions, increasing SC risks, and resource efficiency needs.
The first research paper, „Potentials of Blockchain Technology in Supply Chain Management: Long-term Judgments of an International Expert Panel“, explores blockchain technology's utilization in future SC operations and its potential to shape future SC designs. For this purpose, 15 long-term application scenarios are developed based on scientific and practitioner literature and preliminary expert interviews. To validate these projections, a two-round Delphi method is applied to gather the judgments of 108 experts from academia, industry, and politics/associations. The projections address current concerns in SCM, such as establishing trust and end-to-end transparency between SC partners, data protection, smart contract-enabled automation, efficiency in transactions, or risk management. In addition to the projections' probability of occurrence and impact on SCM, their implementation barriers are evaluated. The analysis reveals that blockchain technology is expected to emerge from its niche and become a constituent part of SC digitalization, since current technological obstacles such as high power consumption or transaction times will be resolved in the future. The most probable and significant effects of blockchain technology are attributed to the establishment of SC transparency and efficiency improvements in SCs. Counterintuitively, the study also finds that not all blockchain-related potentials are directly transferable to SCs, such as the technology's feature to enable transactions between untrusted parties. The study concludes with prospective insights into which SCM-specific barriers require further research and solutions to enable the technologies' large-scale application in SCM. Furthermore, it provides businesses with a validated starting point for their blockchain strategies.
The second essay, „Industry 4.0 Technologies as Enablers of Collaboration in Circular Supply Chains: A Systematic Literature Review“, examines the capabilities of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies to enable and support collaboration in circular SCs. The research builds on two consecutive systematic literature reviews. The first review synthesizes research on SC collaboration and contextualizes the findings with circular economy-related publications. As a result, six relevant collaboration mechanisms for circular SCs are derived, which are presented in a newly developed „circular SC collaboration“ framework. The second review subsequently matches the framework's mechanisms with the potentials of I4.0 technologies, providing a holistic perspective on I4.0's power to enable collaboration in circular SCs. The review identifies information sharing as the most essential collaboration mechanism, as it builds the fundament for other mechanisms such as joint planning and decision-making or resource sharing. Furthermore, according to the review, current research mainly qualifies six technologies to enable collaboration in circular SCs, with the Internet of Things and blockchain technology being the most researched. By intersecting the different research streams, this study further derives three archetypes for I4.0-enabled circular SC collaboration, demonstrating the current „centers of gravity“ in research. For researchers, the study concludes with five actionable future research directions, and for practitioners, it offers valuable guidance on how to leverage I4.0 technologies to improve collaboration in their circular SCs.
The third article, „Closing the Material Loop: How Digital Technologies Revolutionize Reverse Supply Chain Management“, connects thematically to the circular economy and I4.0 topics of the previous essay, but focuses on the operational processes in circularity-enabling reverse supply chain management (RSCM). It explores empirically how digitalization and I4.0 technologies could solve the challenges in RSCM and offer support in closing the material loop. Particular emphasis is thus placed on digital technologies' empowering potential for RSCM's three sub-processes: „product acquisition management“, „disassembly and diagnostics“, and „recovery operations“. The application of an explorative multiple case study approach comprising eight pioneering companies from different industries allows for real-life insights into the article's research question, and the results illustrate the advantages of digital solutions in reducing the uncertainties and complexities inherent in RSCM. The application of sensors and Internet of Things devices to products facilitates product acquisition management, since they enable forecasts on the timing and condition of product returns. Additionally, web-based collection platforms are found to increase visibility and return rates and reduce search costs, thereby enhancing efficiency in RSCM. Furthermore, diagnostic operations gain in accuracy and speed by applying machine learning-enhanced sorting software, and the performance in recovery operations is revealed to be improved, as Internet of Things application increases knowledge regarding a product's characteristics. Apart from these benefits, the empirical investigation identifies 16 RSCM-related barriers that may hinder the technologies' implementation. In summary, this research offers decision-makers a set of design features to shape their digitalization efforts in their reverse SCs.
The fourth research paper, „The Future of Industry 4.0 and Supply Chain Resilience after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Empirical Evidence from a Delphi Study“, investigates how I4.0 solutions could strengthen supply chain resilience (SCRES), given the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. To explore the future role of I4.0 technologies in SCRES, the Delphi method is applied to test 13 application scenarios, for which development preliminary workshops, literature search, and practitioner interviews served as sources. In two rounds, 64 digitalization experts quantitatively and qualitatively assess the scenarios, which focus on 2030, in terms of their probability of occurrence, impact on SCRES, and desirability. The resulting scenario discussion unveils the applicability of I4.0 solutions to strengthen SCRES. In this context, visibility-enabling data collection technologies and remote working capabilities are the most likely and impactful measures for SCRES improvements by 2030. Additionally, artificial intelligence, cross-company data platforms, and digital SC twins are identified as beneficial in SCRES management. However, their application appears to be fragile by 2030, as the prerequisite of full end-to-end SC transparency is unlikely to be achieved by then. In general, the study's results imply that, despite the proven benefits of I4.0 technologies in SCRES management, the human factor remains essential in 2030. At the same time, the study provides suggestions for further actions, such as teaching the relevant digital skills, to ensure workforces' empowerment for digital SCRES management of the future.
The fifth article, „Strengthening Supply Chain Resilience in a Pandemic: Empirical Evidence from Europe during COVID-19“, complements the long-term research horizon of the fourth paper by exploring the most effective short- and medium-term measures to increase SCRES in a pandemic. Therefore, 41 experts from nine European companies are interviewed utilizing a multiple case study approach. The real-world insights allow for an extensive analysis of the companies' SC challenges caused by COVID-19 and their respective mitigation measures. The key finding is that standard resilience measures may be unable to solve the challenges associated with a pandemic. In consequence, ten propositions for effective SC risk management, with an explicit focus on pandemics, are derived. The case study highlights these propositions by categorizing them into the four SCRES levers „SC (re)-engineering“, „SC risk management culture“, „SC collaboration“, and „SC agility“. The observations illustrate that a rapid adjustment of internal performance objectives lays the essential foundation for effective SCM during a pandemic. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that joint vertical procurement with suppliers and close collaboration with governments are dominant to secure scarce supply. In the same context, strengthening single existing suppliers could be more promising to secure supply and enhance SCRES during a pandemic than multiple sourcing. While this study is of a qualitative nature, the derived propositions offer both future research directions for researchers and guidance to practitioners on strengthening their SCs in ongoing or future pandemics.
An overview of this dissertation's underlying essays, including the applied research methods and posed research questions, is provided in Table A-1.
Spiele wie Candy Crush Saga gehören zu den derzeit populärsten Spielen weltweit. Trotz einfacher Aufmachung sowie monoton und repetitiv wirkender Aufgaben üben diese Spiele regelmäßig eine große motivationale Wirkung auf Menschen aus. Es ist daher nicht verwunderlich, dass ebenso außerhalb von Spielen regelmäßig Gestaltungselemente aus Spielen angewendet werden, um für unterschiedliche Zwecke eine ähnliche motivationale Wirkung bei Menschen hervorzurufen. Eine derartige Praktik wird üblicherweise als Gamification bezeichnet. Auch Unternehmen, die permanent nach neuen Möglichkeiten suchen, bestehende Prozesse zu unterstützen, haben in Gamification ein Potenzial für verschiedene Unternehmensbereiche erkannt. Ein vielversprechender Bereich ist dabei ein Wissensmanagement. Für ein systematisches Wissensmanagement ist ein kontinuierlicher Wissenstransfer zwischen Mitarbeitern eine wesentliche Voraussetzung. Eine oft fehlende Bereitschaft bei Mitarbeitern zum Wissenstransfer stellt für Unternehmen jedoch eine besondere Herausforderung dar. Diese fehlende Bereitschaft ist in vielen Fällen motivational bedingt und erscheint daher vielversprechend für einen Einsatz von Gamification. Üblicherweise werden in Unternehmen bereits Wissensmanagementsysteme zum softwaregestützten Wissensmanagement genutzt. Gamification ist dort in der Regel nicht eingebunden. Wie Gamification bei in Betrieb befindlichen Anwendungssystemen nachträglich verwendet werden kann und welche Auswirkungen eine Verwendung von Gamification dort hat, ist bisher weitestgehend unklar.
In der Arbeit wird daher grundlegend untersucht, wie Gamification im Wissensmanagement unter Zuhilfenahme von Wissensmanagementsystemen verwendet werden kann. Dazu werden vier Studien durchgeführt. Mit den Studien werden zwei zentrale Schwerpunkte betrachtet. Zum einen, wie Gamification in einem Wissensmanagementsystem im Unternehmenskontext nachträglich zielgerichtet eingesetzt und realisiert werden kann (Umsetzung von Gamification in einem Wissensmanagementsystem). Zum anderen, wie sich eine Nutzung von Gamification in einem Wissensmanagementsystem auf Anwender auswirkt (Wirkung von Gamification in einem Wissensmanagementsystem). Die Studien werden teilweise bei einem Technologiekonzern durchgeführt, bei dem ein individuell angepasstes Groupware-basiertes Wissensmanagementsystem auf der Basis von Microsoft SharePoint 2013 verwendet wird. Dieses vorhandene Wissensmanagementsystem stand für Untersuchungen zur Verfügung. Explizite Elemente von Gamification waren in diesem Wissensmanagementsystem zu Beginn der Arbeit nicht vorhanden.
Zunächst wird in Studie 1 (Literaturrecherche) untersucht, wie das Thema Gamification im Wissensmanagement in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur behandelt wird, um eine Grundlage für die nachfolgenden Studien zu bilden. Auf Basis der Ergebnisse aus der Literaturrecherche wird daraufhin ein konzeptionelles Modell entwickelt. Mit dem konzeptionellen Modell wird Gamification mit Formularen verknüpft, die üblicherweise als Methode zum Wissenstransfer in dem Groupware-basierten Wissensmanagementsystem des Technologiekonzerns eingesetzt werden. In Studie 2 (Softwaremarkt-Analyse) werden anschließend am Softwaremarkt angebotene Erweiterungen analysiert, die es unmittelbar ermöglichen, das Groupware-System SharePoint 2013 mit Gamification zu ergänzen. Mit der Softwaremarkt-Analyse wird ein Grundverständnis zu einem Einsatz von Gamification in einem Groupware-System geschaffen, um damit eine Prototypentwicklung in der nachfolgenden Studie vorzubereiten. Mit Studie 3 (Prototypentwicklung) wird anhand einer prototypischen Weiterentwicklung untersucht, wie sich Gamification nachträglich in dem Groupware-basierten Wissensmanagementsystem des Technologiekonzerns zielgerichtet umsetzen lässt. Dazu werden, auf Grundlage des entwickelten konzeptionellen Modells, Formulare in dem Groupware-basierten Wissensmanagementsystem mit Gamification erweitert. Insbesondere werden in der Studie wesentliche Entwicklungsaspekte für einen zielgerichteten Einsatz und eine Realisierung von Gamification in dem Groupware-basierten Wissensmanagementsystem untersucht. Dabei wird gleichfalls ein Verständnis zu den Anforderungen einer Umsetzung von Gamification in einem vorhandenen System gewonnen. Die Durchführung der prototypischen Weiterentwicklung folgt einem systematischen Entwicklungsprozess, der sich aus einer Analyse, einem Entwurf sowie einer iterativen Realisierung zusammensetzt. Die Realisierung von Gamification erfolgt in JavaScript mit dem Framework AngularJS und wird mit ausgewählten Anwendern des Groupware-basierten Wissensmanagementsystems evaluiert und angepasst. Aus dem Vorgehen resultiert ein (IT )Artefakt in Form eines Prototyps. In Studie 4 (Prototypevaluation) werden, basierend auf der prototypischen Weiterentwicklung aus Studie 3, die Auswirkungen auf die Akzeptanz der Mitarbeiter bei der Nutzung des um Gamification erweiterten Groupware-basierten Wissensmanagementsystems im Rahmen eines Feldexperiments evaluiert. Als Grundlage zur Evaluation wird ein Modell aufgestellt, das sich an dem Technologieakzeptanzmodell orientiert. Von dem Modell werden vermutete Ursache-Wirkungs-Beziehungen in Form von Hypothesen theoretisch fundiert abgeleitet und zusätzlich mögliche Einflussfaktoren auf Gamification (Alter, Geschlecht sowie Kultur) miteinbezogen. Zur Datenerhebung für das Modell wird das Feldexperiment bei dem multinationalen Technologiekonzern in China, Deutschland und den USA durchgeführt. Die Teilnehmer an dem Feldexperiment werden entweder einer Experimental- oder einer Kontrollgruppe zugeteilt. Teilnehmer der Experimentalgruppe setzen sich mit dem um Gamification erweiterten Groupware-basierten Wissensmanagementsystem auseinander. Teilnehmer der Kontrollgruppe setzen sich mit dem ursprünglichen Groupware-basierten Wissensmanagementsystem auseinander. Zu Beginn des Feldexperiments werden den Teilnehmern beider Gruppen mehrere identische Aufgaben gegeben, die mit dem zugeteilten System durchgeführt werden sollen. Nach Bearbeitung der Aufgaben werden die Teilnehmer zur Akzeptanz befragt. Als wesentlicher Erkenntnisgewinn wird eine signifikant höhere intrinsische Motivation bei der Experimentalgruppe festgestellt. Gamification hat demnach eine gesteigerte motivationale Wirkung hinsichtlich einer wahrgenommenen Freude im Umgang mit Formularen in dem Groupware-basierten Wissensmanagementsystem. Die Ergebnisse sind dabei abhängig von den Einflussfaktoren Alter und Kultur, die einen moderierenden Einfluss auf eine Wirkung von Gamification ausüben können.
Zusammenfassend trägt die vorliegende Arbeit zu einem besseren Verständnis einer Umsetzung und Wirkung von Gamification im Umfeld eines Wissensmanagements und im Speziellen zu einem Wissenstransfer bei. Gesammelte Erfahrungswerte und Erkenntnisse stellen sowohl Implikationen für Unternehmen als auch für die Forschung bereit.
This dissertation analyses a German training scheme called ‘Schemes for Activation and Integration’ (SAI) and its participation effects on the labour market performance of unemployed welfare recipients. As unemployment scars affected individuals (even in the long run) and perpetuates social inequality, overcoming unemployment and (re-)integrating unemployed individuals into the labour market is of urgent importance. In this dissertation, I focus on unemployed individuals in the German basic income support system as these individuals often face multiple labour market barriers and thus have a considerable need for active support. I find SAI to be rather adequate in supporting unemployed welfare recipients in their labour market integration, in particular if they are women or inhibit disadvantageous characteristics. Based on this dissertation’s findings, there are three policy advices: First, SAI should be even more precise in targeting vulnerable groups. Second, the support should really be close-meshed, and third, caseworkers should combine (classroom) training focusing on human capital accumulation with periods of practical experience within firms.
Increasing intranet usage through gamification – insights from an experiment in the banking industry
(2015)
This paper applies gamification to leverage the use of information for information-intensive business tasks in the context of corporate intranets. It presents the results of an online experiment, which was conducted in the banking industry with 68 advisors from different institutes using a prototype of a corporate intranet. They indicate that adding gamification elements, such as ranking lists and points, positively influences the quantitative (time spent, articles read) and qualitative (time per article, percentage of correct answers) usage of the intranet for knowledge acquisition.
Given the considerable success of companies such as Apple, Amazon or Airbnb, the term platform is on everyone’s lips today. Accordingly, platforms have long since also found their way into service science. However, mastering the transition from established product-sales-based offerings to platform-based services and business models comes with a multitude of challenges. In a B2B context, incumbent companies need to carefully evaluate how they can benefit from the establishment of platforms, especially in light of the effects on their existing business models and ties to other actors. Hence, we invited scholars with different backgrounds to provide viewpoints on the opportunities and challenges of the transition to platform-based services and business models in a B2B environment. The individual commentaries provide various insights on how to conduct this transition and benefit from it successfully. To do so, they contrast different approaches for establishing and governing ecosystems around platforms, discuss B2B-specific pitfalls and opportunities of platform business models, uncover the supporting role of platforms for smart service development, and stress the importance of platform and
ecosystem thinking as a necessary mindset.