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Für mehr als 70% der Patienten spielt die Empfehlung des Arztes bei der Wahl einer Klinik für einen elektiven Eingriff eine Rolle. Eine langfristige Bindung zu den einweisenden Ärzten als Gatekeeper und Lenker von Patientenströmen ist aus Kliniksicht essentiell. Ziel der Arbeit ist es, Einflussfaktoren und Wirkmechanismen der Einweiserbindung auf den wirtschaftlichen Erfolg im Krankenhaus am Beispiel der Region 10 zu untersuchen. Das Konstrukt der Einweiserbindung wird operationalisiert als bisheriges Verhalten und zukünftiges Verhalten. Als Erfolgsgrößen werden Erlöskennzahlen wie der Case Mix Index herangezogen. Zur Beantwortung der Forschungsfragen wurden drei Datenquellen erhoben. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der einweisende Arzt durch sein bisheriges Verhalten die Krankenhauswahl seiner Patienten positiv beeinflussen kann. Weiterhin ergeben die Analysen, dass jährlich ca. 17% der Patienten, die in der Region 10 leben, die Region für einen Krankenhausaufenthalt verlassen. Darunter auch Indikationen, die durchaus in einem regionalen Krankenhaus behandelbar sind. Die Wirkung eines Einweiserportals zur Bindung der niedergelassenen Ärzte konnte nicht nachgewiesen werden.
This study explores the distinctive patterns of language use in political discourse across selected outer circle (Cameroon and Ghana) and inner circle (US and South Africa) varieties, using a corpus-based approach. More specifically, the research sets out to investigate the use of two types of linguistic features, namely, personal pronouns and kinship metaphors. In a first analysis, I adopt an alternative approach to investigating the use of personal pronouns in political discourse. The approach essentially draws from the cognitive linguistic concept of ‘frames’ as articulated by the theory of frame semantics (Fillmore, 1976, 1977a, 1982, 1985, 2008; Fillmore & Baker, 2010). I use an automatic frame semantic parsing tool, the SEMAFOR parser (Das et al, 2014), to identify the different types of (semantic) frames and frame roles with which specific personal pronouns are instantiated across the four varieties. I then compare the findings to illustrate instances of universality and variation.
In a second analysis, I examine the types of metaphorical conceptualizations which are made using kinship terms across the varieties. Working top-down from conceptual schemas to linguistic instantiation, I identify and compare the frequencies of metaphors from the kinship field and also describe the types of cross-domain mappings typically involved in each of the varieties. My analysis is mostly informed by mainstream cognitive approaches to the study of metaphors, more especially cultural variations in the use of conceptual metaphors (Kövecses, 2002, 2005). I demonstrate that although there is empirical evidence for the use of a kinship conceptual schema across all four varieties, there are however significant variances in the specific metaphorical mappings used to instantiate this high-level conceptual structure.
Both analyses make a case for the fact that in the field of political discourse especially, language use may be structured and constrained by conceptual schemas which themselves are culturally determined.
Die kumulative Dissertation befasst sich im Rahmen der holistischen Customer Experience (CX) zum einen mit unterbewussten Einflussfaktoren auf die CX und wie negative Effekte in diesem Zusammenhang gelindert werden können. Zum anderen wird die Customer Experience von einer Business-to-Business Perspektive analysiert. Insgesamt umfasst die Dissertation vier Beiträge:
Beitrag 1:
Stereotypes in Services – A Systematic Literature Review to Move from Scattered Insights to Generalizable Knowledge
Beitrag 2:
Overcoming Vulnerability: Channel Design Strategies to Alleviate Vulnerability Perceptions in Customer Journeys
Beitrag 3:
Are You Right for the Job? The Influence of Service Provider Stereotypes on Customer’s Willingness to Engage in Co-Production
Beitrag 4:
The Business-to-Business Customer Experience – An aggregated Company Experience Based on Multiple Department and Employee Journeys
Basierend auf der Annahme, dass die Customer Experience im Rahmen vieler Einflussfaktoren auch durch soziale Standards, Normen und Ideale beeinflusst werden kann, konzentriert sich der erste Artikel auf die Wirkung von Stereotypen in Dienstleistungsinteraktionen. Der Literaturüberblick identifiziert dabei zahlreiche Auswirkungen von Stereotypen, stellt dabei jedoch fest, dass Maßnahmen, um diese Auswirkungen zu mildern deutlich weniger untersucht wurden. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht der zweite Beitrag konzeptionell wie das Channel Management dazu beitragen kann, die CX von benachteiligten Kundengruppen zu verbessern. Der dritte Beitrag adressiert eine weitere Forschungslücke die in Beitrag 1 identifiziert wurde, nämlich fehlende Einblicke in den Prozess, wie soziale Beurteilungen zu negativen Kundenerlebnissen führen. Mittels zweier Studien zeigt der Beitrag, dass Kunden auf Grund von Stereotypen weniger bereit sind mit Mitarbeitern zu interagieren, was den Erfolg der Dienstleistungserbringung gefährdet. Der vierte Beitrag nimmt eine deutlich abweichende Perspektive im Rahmen der CX ein und untersucht die bisher wenig beachtete CX in einem gewerblichen Business-to-Business Kontext.
Die vorliegende Arbeit beinhaltet drei Studien mit der Methode des ambulanten Assessments, welche die Zielsetzung haben, einen Beitrag zur Überprüfung bzw. Weiterentwicklung aktueller arbeitspsychologischer Theorien zu leisten. Die erste Studie thematisiert die Frage nach möglichen Interaktionen zwischen Anforderungen. Mehrebenen-Analysen basierend auf einer Stichprobe von 97 Krankenpflegekräften und 1026 Situationsfragebögen ergaben signifikante Interaktionen von Arbeitsdruck und emotionalen Anforderungen für drei von fünf abhängigen Variablen (emotionale Erschöpfung, Vitalität und Hingabe). Der wichtigste Beitrag dieser Studie ist, die Existenz von Interaktionen zwischen verschiedenen Anforderungen aufzuzeigen. In der zweiten Studie wird untersucht, ob inkonsistente Mediation eine mögliche Erklärung für die inkonsistente Befundlage bzgl. des motivationalen Potenzials von Herausforderungs-Anforderungen darstellt. In Mehrebenen-Pfadmodellen (95 Altenpflegekräfte, 871 Messungen) zeigte sich, dass Herausforderungs-Stressoren – vermittelt über Bedeutungserleben und Vitalität – inkonsistente indirekte Beziehungen zur abhängigen Variablen Hingabe aufweisen. Die divergenten Pfade der Herausforderungs-Stressoren können erklären, weshalb Studien keinen Haupteffekt von Herausforderungs-Stressoren auf motivationale Outcomes finden konnten. In der dritten Studie wurde das Spillover-Crossover Modell aus einer Innersubjekt-Perspektive untersucht. In zeitverzögerten Mehrebenen-Pfadmodellen (211 Zweiverdiener-Paare, 1530 Arbeitstage) zeigte sich, dass situative Variationen in Anforderungen und Ressourcen – seriell vermittelt über affektives Wohlbefinden am Arbeitsplatz und partnerschaftliche Interaktionen – das affektive Wohlbefinden beider Partner am Tagesende vorhersagen. Die theoretischen und praktischen Implikationen der drei Studien sowie die Vorteile und Nachteile der Methode des ambulanten Assessments werden diskutiert.
This cumulative dissertation examines possible applications of digital assistants and their optimal design. The first article analyzes whether the emotional support from a digital assistant has a positive effect on the customer’s satisfaction with the service or his persistence. The second article examines digital assistants in their possible role as companions. The effects of the presence of a digital companion on customer satisfaction are examined. The third article deals with digital assistants in their possible role as instrumental supporters. While digital assistants appear through written/recorded language or a visualized embodiment in the context of emotional support or as a companion, they act more inconspicuously while providing instrumental support (e.g. as an autopilot of an autonomous vehicle). Therefore, the article focuses on a possible anthropomorphization of the autonomous digital assistant and examines whether the perceived risk of the user is reduced and his satisfaction with the service can be increased.
In this cumulative dissertation, I investigate the relation between the cognitive complexity of work tasks and economic outcomes such as earnings, migration, and aggregate income growth. Existing theoretical and empirical research firmly established that human capital plays a major role in determining these outcomes. However, the literature to date has focused on a limited set of human capital measures, such as education, years of work experience, and basic demographic characteristics, and has largely ignored considerable individual variation attributable to occupational skills. By introducing novel skill measures derived from work tasks and using theoretical models combined with empirical evidence, I demonstrate the determining role played by occupational skills.
The first paper examines the connection between problem solving and lifecycle wage dynamics. I introduce a model of learning-by-doing which relates the intensity of complex tasks to the growth of problem solving skills and labour productivity. Using German administrative data, I find that workers in complex jobs receive static and dynamic wage premia and acquire relatively more human capital throughout life.
The second paper examines the selection pattern of Mexican migrants to the United States and shows that Mexican migrants have lower cognitive skills and higher manual skills compared to non-migrants. Using an extended version of the Roy-Borjas model, I show that differences in the returns to occupational skills explain the selection pattern better than differences in the returns to education and basic characteristics.
The third paper explores the role that complexity plays in economic development. I develop a regional model of endogenous growth which relates aggregate problem solving skills to the rate of technology adoption. In the model, migration costs and spillovers in technology adoption create persistent differences in regional income. By estimating growth regressions, I find that problem solving skills strongly predict per capita income growth in a sample of European regions.
The results collected in the dissertation have implications for economic development policies focused on human capital, projection and analysis of international migration, and evaluating long-term effects of recessions.
The cumulative dissertation "Optimization models for shelf space allocation in retail stores" consists of the four individual scientific contributions listed below:
1. Düsterhöft, Tobias, Hübner, Alexander and Schaal, Kai (2020): A practical approach to the shelf-space allocation and replenishment problem with heterogeneously sized shelves.
2. Hübner, Alexander, Düsterhöft, Tobias and Ostermeier, Manuel (2020): An optimization approach for product allocation with integrated shelf space dimensioning in retail stores.
3. Ostermeier, Manuel, Düsterhöft, Tobias and Hübner, Alexander (2020): A model for the store wide shelf space allocation.
4 Düsterhöft, Tobias (2020): Retail shelf space planning - Differences, problems and opportunities of applied optimization models.
The planning and best possible utilization of the available shelf space is of central importance for retailers. Shelf space is a scarce resource in stores today. Shelf planners need to determine optimal shelf spaces for each item within product allocation. Researchers have already developed several decision support models. Usually, these models have in common that they can make a decision on the number of facings per product. A facing is a visible sales unit of a product on the shelf. Behind a facing, depending on the depth of the shelf further sales units are located. With an increase in the number of facings the visibility of the product for customers is also increasing, which is associated with a certain demand effect, the so-called space elasticity.
The content of this dissertation are optimization models that extend existing approaches to product allocation significantly and thus also enable a practical application of these approaches. Within the framework of a practical project substantial new contents for the product allocation can be determined. The resulting optimization models build on each other. Initially, in the 1st article the product allocation is extended by an exact consideration of the shelf space dimensions. The resulting question of the optimal shelf layout is the central part of the 2nd article. If the layouts of shelves are determined on the shelf, the total shelf space per category must be known beforehand. This question is dealt with in the 3rd article. Finally, new research fields are identified in the 4th article based on current real processes and requirements.
Recommending products that are helpful to customers and tailored to their needs is of pivotal importance for successful online retailing. Online purchase data is typically used to generate such recommendations. This dissertation studies two topic models that use purchase data to make product recommendations. The Author Topic Model (ATM) and Sticky Author Topic Model (Sticky ATM) are applied to the purchase data of an online retailer of animal health products, and their predictive performances are contrasted with those of the benchmark methods Unigram, Bigram, and Collaborative Filtering (CF). This work focuses on the generation of new product recommendations. To increase novelty in recommendations, a new pre-processing approach is presented. The data is prepared prior to model application such that more novel products are included in the recommendations. A total of six data preparation variants are tested. The key finding is that topic models are very competitive with the benchmark methods and outperform them with the data preparation variant, where repetitively purchased items (repeat items) and customers with one item transaction (single-item customers) are eliminated from the data. Marketing practitioners should consider this pre-processing when implementing topic models as recommender models in their online shops.
In many countries today, a rising life expectancy and the associated demographic shift, coupled with the advancements of modern medicine, has fueled an ever-increasing cost pressure on healthcare systems. A driving factor for these rising costs can be seen in inpatient stays in hospitals that in many cases are connected to cost-intensive treatments. A central concern of any hospital management in such an environment is therefore to understand how to make the best possible use of available resources. A decisive factor in this regard is the management of bed capacities.
The present cumulative dissertation comprises four contributions, which address
open research questions in the field of strategic, tactical and operative bed planning:
1 Walther, M., 2020. Strategical, tactical, and operational aspects of bed
planning problems in hospital environments. Submission planned to
Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
2 Hübner, A., Kuhn, H., Walther, M., 2018. Combining clinical departments
and wards in maximum-care hospitals. OR Spectrum 40, 679-709
3 Schäfer, F., Walther, M., Hübner, A., Kuhn, H., 2019. Operational
patient-bed assignment problem in large hospital settings including overflow
and uncertainty management. Flexible Services and Manufacturing
Journal 31, 1012–1041
4 Schäfer, F., Walther, M., Hübner, A., Grimm, D., 2020. Machine learning
and pilot method: tackling uncertainty in the operational patient-bed
assignment problem. Submitted to OR Spectrum on 13 February 2020
The first contribution sets out to provide an overview over the different hierarchical planning levels on which bed planning problems may be addressed. It should be noted in this context that several different aspects may be combined under the collective term “bed planning”. These may be delimited in terms of their scope and their planning horizon. A frequently used taxonomy in this context is the hierarchical subdivision of typical problems in health care into strategical, tactical and operational levels as provided by Hulshof et al. (2012). In the context of bed planning, a typical strategical problem is how to combine departments and wards to obtain benefits from pooled ward capacity. On a tactical level, an exemplary problem setting related to bed planning can be seen in devising master surgery schedules that optimize downstream bed occupancy levels as patients returning from surgery will require a bed for post-surgical recovery and monitoring. Finally,
on an operational level, patient-bed allocations need to be optimized while taking the objectives and constraints of patients and medical staff alike into account.
To start, the second contribution deals with the strategical problem of combining departments into groups and assigning pooled ward capacity to these groups with the goal of balancing bed occupancy levels within a hospital. Specifically, one of the underlying goals is to minimize the amount of beds required to meet a predetermined service level. However, merging ward capacities with the aim of simultaneously accommodating patients from different medical departments increases the complexity of organizing and ensuring proper care for these patients. This leads to so-called pooling costs. To tackle this problem, a modeling and solution approach is developed which is based on a generalized partitioning problem and is solved by integer
linear programming (ILP). This enables hospital management to determine the cost-optimal combination of all departments and wards in a hospital, while ensuring that predetermined thresholds with regard to maximum
walking distances for doctors and patients are adhered to.
Once pooled ward capacities are established, the solution space for allocating incoming patients to beds is greatly increased and the underlying allocation problem quickly becomes too complex to be handled without computational support. In this regard the third contribution ties in with the second contribution in that it deals with optimizing the operational patient-bed allocation problem. In order to enable optimal allocation of patients to beds, it is important to identify and take into account the individual needs and
limitations of the three main stakeholders involved, namely patients, doctors, and nursing staff. All of these stakeholders exhibit different and sometimes contradicting objectives and constraints, such that a trade-off has to be made that maximizes the overall utility for the hospital. In addition, the complexity of the problem is increased by the high volatility and uncertainty regarding patient arrivals, types of illnesses, and the resulting remaining lengths of stay of newly arriving patients. In order to address this situation,
a mathematical model and solution approach for the patient-bed allocation problem is developed that is designed to generate solutions for large, real-life operative planning situations. In addition to being able to deal with overflow situations, this solution approach further takes different patient types into account, for example by anticipating emergency patient arrivals.
Finally, the fourth contribution builds on the third contribution in that the modeling and solution approach to allocate patients to beds is extended by several aspects. As mentioned above, hospitals have to deal with uncertainty regarding the actual demand for beds. Here, the fourth contribution improves the anticipation of emergency patients by using machine learning. Specifically, weather data, seasons, important local and regional events, and current and historical occupancy rates are combined to better anticipate emergency inpatient arrivals. In addition, a hyper-heuristic approach is developed based on the pilot method defined by Voß et al. (2005). By combining the improved anticipation of emergency patients with this hyperheuristic approach significant improvements can be achieved compared to the solution approach presented in the third contribution.
Vermittler - Bewahrer - Wächter. Orientierungen von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern im Themenfeld Kultur
(2020)
Auf Grundlage welchen Kulturbegriffs die Lehrkräfte innerhalb des Deutschunterrichts der Grundschule handeln, ist zentrales Thema der vorliegenden Arbeit. Mit Hilfe von Gruppendiskussionen fragt die Studie nach implizitem Wissen der Lehrer*innen im Themenfeld Kultur. Neben der Überwindung kulturellen Defizits kann mit Hilfe der dokumentarischen Methode ein Ethnozentrismus als pädagogische Leitidee rekonstruiert werden. Ein Ausweg daraus wird im bedeutungsorientierten Kulturbegriff als Grundlage eines kultursensiblen Deutschunterrichts aufgezeigt.
In den Kulturwissenschaften werden eine Vielzahl von Kulturbegriffen diskutiert, dies geschieht allerdings kaum für den schulischen Kontext. Der Kulturbegriff, der dem Denken und Handeln der Lehrer*innen zugrunde liegt, ist jedoch Grundlage für stattfindende ethnische Zuschreibungen oder Stigmatisierungen und gleichzeitig auch Basis für eine gelungene Gleichstellung aller Schüler*innen.
Das Forschungsprojekt stellt die Lehrkraft als zentralen Akteur innerhalb des Unterrichtsprozesses in den Mittelpunkt: Welches Verständnis von Kultur liegt ihrem Deutschunterricht in der Grundschule zugrunde? Die Studie fragt danach, welche Orientierungsrahmen, welche impliziten Wissensbestände im Themenfeld Kultur bei Lehrer*innen zu rekonstruieren sind, um so ein besseres Verständnis der kollektiven Wahrnehmung zu generieren.
In der praxeologischen Arbeit werden mit Hilfe des Gruppendiskussionsverfahrens und der dokumentarischen Methode konjunktive Erfahrungsräume der Lehrer*innen im Themenfeld Kultur rekonstruiert. Alle Gruppen, jeweils ganz unterschiedlich, verhandeln die Überwindung des kulturellen Defizits. Darauf aufbauend zeigt sich, dass die Lehrer*innen auf einen kollektiven Habitus kultureller Wissensvermittlung auf Basis eines ethnozentristischen Weltbildes zurückgreifen. Durch das kulturelle Nichtwissen bleibt den Lehrkräften ein pädagogisch-kultursensibler Handlungsspielraum verwehrt.
Mit Hilfe des bedeutungsorientierten Kulturbegriffs kann dieser Spielraum im Themenfeld Kultur geweitet werden, indem die individuelle und kulturelle Vielfalt aus der Perspektive der Schüler*innen thematisiert werden. Er bildet einen Baustein, um mit einer ganzheitlichen Kultur- und Diversitätsdidaktik das methodisch-didaktische Desiderat im Feld des Deutschunterrichts aufzuheben.
Order picking and delivery are integral parts of many supply chains, especially those of retail and online trade. They are mostly non-value-adding, downstream processes, but they are responsible for the majority of logistics costs. Accordingly, the academic literature deals with both order picking and vehicle routing in a diverse and detailed manner. However, a holistic view of both processes is mostly not sufficiently taken into account. The interdependent effects on the operational planning level are only considered to a limited extent since the processes are usually considered isolated or sequential planning is assumed. This thesis examines different order picking and vehicle routing problems. Furthermore, it shows the advantages of integrative planning and develops exact and heuristic solution methods for the investigated problems.
The first paper develops a structural understanding of the subproblems of picking and delivery. In addition, the article illustrates the development of the research branch of integrative order picking and vehicle routing.
Further contributions examine practice-oriented problems in the field of micro-store deliveries (contribution 2), same-day deliveries (contribution 3), and the supply of supermarkets (contribution 4). In each case, different real-world constraints are included and different objectives are addressed. Furthermore, problem-specific integrative solution methods are developed and compared to classical approaches.
Automation technologies and human capital are fundamental drivers of economic growth. The motivation of this thesis is to advance the literature by providing novel insights into the determinants of automation innovation and human capital. For this purpose, this thesis exploits immigration episodes, uses empirical methods for causal inference and introduces new sources of data on immigrants and automation innovation. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 each examine the relationship between labor endowments and automation innovation. Chapter 4 examines the effects of ethnic concentration on immigrant childrens' acquisition of human capital.
Article 1:
Despite the proliferation of healthier side items for children at fast food restaurants, many parents still do not make healthy choices for their children in this setting. The goal of this research is to identify the parents most likely to do so and develop an intervention to nudge these parents toward making healthier choices in retail outlets. Across four field studies conducted in a retail environment (i.e., locations of a fast food restaurant chain), the authors predict and find that parents with a high tendency to engage in social comparison and a malleable view of the self are most likely to conform to the norm in their parental social network. Given that the norm in the population studied is to order a less healthy side item (e.g., fries) versus a healthy side item (e.g., fruit), conforming results in significantly less healthy orders for the children of these individuals. The authors demonstrate that a social norm-based intervention designed to set a new healthy norm in this retail environment succeeded in increasing the overall proportion of parents that chose a healthy side item by over 29% by increasing the choice of healthy sides specifically for these individuals. The authors conclude with a discussion of implications for theory, retail managers, and policy makers.
Article 2:
Despite the popularity of Mystery Shopping (MS) to assess service performance relatively little research has been conducted on the practice. This article extends the research on Mystery Shopping by evaluating drivers and moderators of employee performance at Mystery Shopping checks. To do so, based on the results of in-depth interviews with 24 employees of a fast-food chain and existing theoretical knowledge, a model of employee performance at MS checks was developed. The developed model was then evaluated applying structural equitation modeling techniques. For this purpose, data of more than 200 employees from 9 different restaurants of the fast food restaurant chain were collected. Where perceived goal importance is identified as a direct driver of employee performance at Mystery Shopping checks results show that the effect of Job Satisfaction on MS performance is mediated by the satisfaction with MS as a service measurement tool and moderated by organizational commitment. Results further show that incentives are only effective under certain conditions to increase employee performance at Mystery Shopping checks.
Article 3:
Technologies that enable customers to produce services on their own (SSTs) have found their way into service delivery routines. The successful deployment of SSTs depends critically on employees’ attitudes toward the technologies, because their attitudes determine their willingness to use and introduce the SSTs to customers. A negative attitude toward SSTs instead can lead to employees’ dissatisfaction and generally poorer performance. Despite the importance of employees’ attitudes towards SSTs, relevant theoretical contributions are limited. This article addresses this lack of research. It introduces a holistic model of how employees’ attitudes toward SSTs form. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with frontline employees the model proposes that attitude formation towards SSTs depends on the perceived influence of SST deployment on job security, customer orientation, work design, and technological dependence. Second, by compiling practical findings from two different industries, this study identifies some moderating effects, according to the conditions for the SST deployment. Two key moderators influence the strength and even the direction of the effects of employees’ attitudes toward SSTs: employees’ job class and the level of automation implied by SSTs. Based on the conceptualized model this study offers managerial implications with regard to the successful introduction of SSTs, from an employee perspective. It also highlights some pertinent tactics, depending on the SST deployment condition, for improving employees’ attitudes toward SSTs.
Reinforcement learning constitutes a valuable framework for reward-based decision making in humans, as it breaks down learning into a few computational steps. These computations are embedded in a task representation that links together stimuli, actions, and outcomes, and an internal model that derives contingencies from explicit knowledge. Although research on reinforcement learning has already greatly advanced our insights into the brain, there remain many open questions regarding the interaction between reinforcement learning, task representations, and internal models. Through the combination of computational modelling, experimental manipulation, and electrophysiological recording, the three studies of this thesis aim to elucidate how task representations and internal models are shaped and how they affect reinforcement learning. In Study 1, the manipulation of action-outcome contingencies in a simple one-stage decision task allowed to investigate the impact of explicit knowledge about task learnability on reinforcement learning. The results highlight the flexible adjustment of internal models and the suppression of central computations of reinforcement learning when a task is represented as not learnable. Using a similar manipulation, Study 2 investigates how this influence of explicit knowledge on reinforcement learning holds under the increasing complexity of a two-stage environment. Again, pronounced neural differences between task conditions indicate separable computations of reinforcement learning and, more importantly, the selective influence of explicit knowledge and internal models on reinforcement learning. Study 3 uses a novel task design which necessitates inference about plausible action-outcome mappings, and thus, credit assignment. The findings suggest that multiple task representations are neurally conceptualized and compete for action selection, thereby solving the structural credit assignment problem. In sum, the studies of this thesis highlight the importance of reinforcement learning as a central biological principle and draw attention to the necessity of flexible interactions between reinforcement learning, task representations, and internal models to cope with the varying demands from the environment.
“While each of our individual companies serves its own corporate purpose, we share a fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders” (Business Roundtable, 2019). With this statement, 181 managers of the Business Roundtable renewed their fundamental view about the purpose of business. This symbolic statement generated a vivid discussion and proved the importance and actuality of addressing organisational purpose as a research topic.
From an academic perspective the discussion about organizational purpose is not new but diverse (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1994; Basu, 1999; Canals, 2010; George, 1999; Henderson & Steen, 2015; Hollensbe, Wookey, Hickey, George, & Nichols, 2014; Koslowski, 2001; Loza Adaui & Mion, 2016; Porter & Kramer, 2011; Quinn & Thakor, 2018; Sisodia, Wolfe, & Sheth, 2006). There are many overlapping points between the discussion on the organisational purpose and the study of corporate sustainability. Because from a sustainability management perspective, companies are administrated and valued, taking into consideration not only their economic performance but also the ecological and social impact that they generate (Elkington, 1994).
This cumulative dissertation addresses in a broad perspective the overlapping points of the discussion on organizational purpose and sustainability and entails four modules:
Module I: Matthias S. Fifka, Anna-Lena Kühn, Cristian R. Loza Adaui & Markus Stiglbauer (2016) Promoting Development in Weak Institutional Environments: The Understanding and Transmission of Sustainability by NGOs in Latin America. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 27(3), 1091-1122.
Module II: Giorgio Mion & Cristian R. Loza Adaui (2020) Understanding the Purpose of Benefit Corporations: An Empirical Study on the Italian Case. International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, 5(4), 1-15.
Module III: Giorgio Mion & Cristian R. Loza Adaui (2019) Mandatory Nonfinancial Disclosure and Its Consequences on the Sustainability Reporting Quality of Italian and German Companies. Sustainability, 11(17), 4612.
Module IV: Cristian R. Loza Adaui (2020) Sustainability Reporting Quality of Peruvian Listed Companies and the Impact of Regulatory Requirements of Sustainability Disclosures. Sustainability, 2020, 12(3), 1135.
This study comprises three individual contributions to the research focus on pricing of auditing services. Using German and European data sets, the empirical investigation examines, among other things, how different dimensions of size, possible interactions from a so-called Big 4 premium or fee cutting behavior, as well as different financial risk factors affect the level of auditing services.
The study 'Size effects and audit pricing: Evidence from Germany' shows, among other things, that of those auditors who also provide consulting services for their clients, only Big 4 auditors achieve higher fees for auditing services. Furthermore, the results of the study suggest that the Big 4 premium shown in previous studies for the German market is strongly influenced by a market leader premium. Taking into account the high relevance of company size as a factor in the pricing of audit services, the study also concludes that company size should rather be represented by non-financial variables such as the natural logarithm of the number of employees in order to exclude any interdependencies with other financial variables.
The study entitled 'The Big 4 premium: Does it survive an auditor change? Evidence from Europe' presents new findings on the impact of auditor changes on audit fees, with a special focus on a possible Big 4 premium. This combines the previous research on the Big 4 premium and fee cutting. Matching analyses are used to compare the audit fees of companies that switch to a Big 4 auditor with those companies that switch to a non-Big 4 auditor. As a result, a Big 4 premium can only be shown for those companies that do not change auditors. In the case of a change of auditor, the results show that Big 4 auditors are willing to give up this bonus or even accept a discount on non-Big 4 auditors. This discount usually persists in the first few years. Accordingly, the assumption is that Big 4 auditors are pursuing a "foot-in-the-door" strategy to win new clients. Based on these results, the existence of a Big 4 premium is strongly dependent on the decision of the respective company to change auditors.
The study 'Variation of financial risk over time and the impact on audit pricing' focuses on the consideration of financial risk factors and their development over time. The key assumption of the study is that continuity of relevant financial ratios reduces the risk position of the auditor and should be positively reflected in the audit fees. For companies that do not change auditors, the results show an influence of increased volatility of financial ratios on the level of audit fees. This leads to the assumption that in case of increased volatility in the financial ratios, companies could deliberately not change the auditor in order to send a sign of stability to third parties and, if necessary, accept a premium on the existing auditor's fees. In the case of a change of auditor, however, new auditors could waive a corresponding premium in order to win new clients.
Este trabajo de doctorado tiene como objetivo principal, aportar al entendimiento y a los espacios de discusión sobre la creación de alternativas al desarrollo en la región norte andina en Colombia. En el cuerpo de la tesis se analiza la historia de la construcción del concepto de desarrollo. Es así, como se pregunta por el desarrollo como un sistema de ideas y prácticas políticas que determinan la creación discursiva de un orden político global. La pregunta por la representación de las comunidades, objetos de ésta ayuda, cobra gran importancia. Se abren dentro de la tesis, campos de discusión, sobre la construcción de esta representación y se trazan continuidades históricas desde el inicio del proyecto colonial. Para hablar de alternativas al desarrollo se toma el ejemplo de la comunidad indígena Inga de Aponte-Nariño y se analizan la permanencia en el tiempo de las categorías sociales del Ayni, la Mink’a, el Cambalache, que han permitido la formación de alternativas al desarrollo, convirtiéndose en símbolo de sus resistencia cultural y política. Desde la comunidad Inga de Aponte-Nariño se trazan las redes indígenas, donde se actúa políticamente en un nivel supralocal y regional y se confronta al Estado en la arena política. De igual forma, se observa con profundidad el rol del intercambio étnico-cultural en la creación de estas redes y plataformas de acción. En efecto, se analiza la cooperación interétnica desde su historicidad y se entiende como una estrategia de supervivencia y pervivencia en el tiempo. La ancestralidad, como origen de la lucha contra la matriz colonial del poder, toma gran importancia, al igual que la espiritualidad y la ritualidad. El método etnográfico ha sido en el desarrollo de este trabajo de gran ayuda. De igual forma, la teoría Postcolonial y la teoría del Post-desarrollo resultan herramientas fundamentales en este análisis.
Je weiter der Holocaust zurückliegt, desto wichtiger wird die mediale Darstellung seiner Geschichte. Nach welchen Regeln Journalismus Vergangenheit verarbeitet und mit welchen Mitteln er diese präsentiert, ist kaum erforscht. Die wenigen Studien beschränken sich auf visuelle Medien. Die Dissertation befasst sich mit dem Radio, das in Bezug auf die Erinnerungskultur ein allgemeines Forschungsdesiderat darstellt. Um Rückschlüsse auf die gegenwärtige Darstellung der Judenvernichtung im öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk zu ziehen, ist eine qualitative Inhaltsanalyse von ausgewählten Radiobeiträgen mit einer Rezipient*innenanalyse verknüpft. Das Mehrmethodendesign berücksichtigt neben narrativen Strukturen auch die Akustik und die Phonetik der Beiträge. Die mittels der Grounded Theory herausgearbeiteten Deutungs- und Aneignungsmuster werden mit dem aktuellen kommunikationswissenschaftlichen und erinnerungskulturellen Forschungsstand in Verbindung gesetzt und abschließend stichhaltige Thesen über die gegenwärtige Darstellung des Holocaust im Radio formuliert. Zwei Vorannahmen der Arbeit können bestätigt werden: Radiojournalismus gerät mit seiner Berichterstattung in ein Spannungsfeld zwischen Erinnerungskultur und gesellschaftlichen Machtverhältnissen, indem er dazu neigt, ein konventionelles Geschichtsbild des Holocaust abzubilden, das eher dem öffentlichen Grundmuster von Erinnerung als den Vorstellungen der Bevölkerung folgt. Gleichzeitig verfügt der öffentlich-rechtliche Hörfunk über Erzählformate, die die Kluft zwischen öffentlicher und privater Erinnerung überwinden können. Indem er seine Stärken gezielt ausspielt und über unkonventionelle Dialoge und Reportagen an die Gegenwart der Hörer*innen andockt, setzt er neue Impulse, die für eine Auseinandersetzung mit Geschichte aus Sicht der Hörer*innen wichtig sein können. Da diese Beiträge jedoch dann nur zu hören sind, wenn redaktioneller Raum besteht, braucht es offensichtlich eine facettenreiche Berichterstattungsstrategie, die das Thema Holocaust dauerhaft in den Medien etabliert und Redakteur*innen über die Möglichkeiten alternativer Erzählweisen informiert.