Informal Research Seminar by Ive David Klinksiek & Antoine Inglebert-Frydman

The effect of remote work on work ability for people with  disabilities  
Ive D. Klinksiek, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations  
Nicola V. Glumann, University of St. Gallen  
Magdalena Schertler, University of St. Gallen  
Eline Jammaers, Hasselt University  
Stephan A. Boehm, University of St. Gallen  

Summary  
Despite the large body of research demonstrating the existence of several disability gaps in job outcomes (e.g. performance, job satisfaction), research on the work ability of people with disabilities remains limited, particularly in the context of remote work. This study addresses this gap by exploring how remote work affects the work ability of people with disabilities. Using a mixed-methods approach, we first conducted 59 semi-structured interviews to qualitatively assess the experiences of remote and office work environments for people with physical and psychological disabilities. Subsequently, we performed quantitative analyses using population-representative, longitudinal survey data from more than 7,000 employee across three points in time to compare the effects of remote work on work ability between individuals with and without disabilities, and across disability types. Using advanced statistical modeling, our results reveal that remote work has a causal, positive effect on the work ability of people with disabilities, but with variations depending on the nature of the disability and specific work conditions. This research contributes to the existing literature by identifying key factors influencing the work ability of employees with disabilities in office and remote work settings, providing insights for more inclusive employment practices.  

Keywords: Disability, Telework, Work ability, Inclusion

This work is part of the project Disability in the New Ways of Working and financial support from the FRS-FNRS is gratefully acknowledged. 

 

Penser l’évaluation des managers de proximité en organisation pour créer de la reconnaissance 

Antoine Inglebert-Frydman, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations 
Mathieu Detchessahar, Université de Nantes 

Summary 

Notre recherche entend identifier les pratiques d’évaluation de la performance des managers de proximité qui produisent de la reconnaissance. Pour cela, nous adoptons une démarche qualitative avec neuf entretiens exploratoires et six focus groups constitués de managers de proximité et de N+1 de managers de proximité. Nous montrons ainsi que le système d’évaluation du travail, très formalisé et se déroulant à des moments précis de l’année, échoue à produire de la reconnaissance. Cette dernière est assurée par le système d’animation du travail, moins formalisé et qui constitue le quotidien des managers de proximité. Pour autant, il est impossible de penser l’efficacité du système d’évaluation du travail sans le système d’animation du travail. Notre recherche est encore exploratoire et repose sur un échantillon limité, elle appelle donc à des développements ultérieurs. Nos résultats conduisent à plaider pour un renforcement de la structuration d’un système d’animation du travail, actuellement largement informel, par les organisations. La distinction système d’évaluation de la performance/système d’animation du travail pour analyser la reconnaissance des managers de proximité n’apparaît pas encore dans la littérature. 

Keywords : Manager de proximité ; reconnaissance ; système d’évaluation de la performance ; système d’animation du travail ; tensions du manager.

Ce travail de recherche est financé par la chaire labor-h

Informal Research Seminar by Lionel Delatte

Exploring the Diversity of Corporate Engagement with Startups

Lionel Delatte, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations 
Benoît Gailly, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations 
Paavo Ritala, Business School, LUT University 

Summary

Scholars have long identified interorganizational relationships as a prominent tool, firms may use to foster internal innovation and to help them navigating through the increasingly complex and volatile environments in which they operate. In particular, corporate engagement with startups, which has become a topic of increasing interest among researchers of several fields. This popularity can probably be explained by the various strategic benefits, firms may draw from this form of collaborations but also due the contribution, it might have in tackling complex global challenges. However, effectively engaging with startups requires firms to overcome a fair number of difficulties and challenges. Therefore, determining ‘how to engage with startups’ is a central but complex question, which scholars have attempted to address through different dimensions. In this context, our exploratory study contributes to existing research in strategic management through two major ways. Firstly, it complements their study of collaboration modes with a better understanding of the specific processes and organizational designs implemented by incumbents in this context. Thereby, exploring emerging ‘lightweight’ collaboration modes and comparing them with traditional corporate venturing (‘CV’) modes based on a series of distinctive dimensions. Secondly, this paper leverages data collected through a Belgian Corporate R&D network to inductively provide some evidence on the emergence of a novel approach which we refer to as ‘corporate entrepreneurial ecosystem’. It thus confirms the diversity of engagement modes with startups beyond traditional equity participations. Furthermore, it emphasizes the emergence of engagements characterized by a multiplicity of actors and multilateralism. Our paper provides both scholars and practitioners with further clarity on corporate engagement with startups, offering promising avenues for future research. 

 

Keywords: corporate-startup engagement, corporate venturing, entrepreneurial ecosystem, open innovation. H de la Fondation Louvain

Informal research seminars by Diane Detry and Ophélie Duquesne

Smart retailing: the role of smart retail technologies in the customer experience, engagement, and social presence. Application to a smart fitting room. 

Diane Detry, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations 
Ingrid Poncin, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations 
Marion Garnier, Grenoble Ecole de Management 

Summary 
Current challenges in the retail industry have forced the spawn of many in-store technologies to keep customers entertained and satisfied. This raises the question of their impact and the consumer’s appreciation of such tools. This work investigates how interacting with a smart fitting room affects perceived social presence, consumer experience, and consumer engagement, acknowledging the importance of in-store social interactions and the role of shopping in meeting social needs. We do so by manipulating the level of interactivity and personalization offered by the machine, considering other mediators and control variables such as artificial empathy and content vividness. This paper addresses social aspects of ISTs currently overlooked in the retail literature, through an innovative methodology combining a video-based online study and a lab replication, thus bringing methodological contributions on top of managerial insights on technology implementation. 

Keywords: Smart retailing, smart retail technologies, customer experience, customer engagement, social presence. 

 

Navigating differentiated promotional practices: examining consumer fairness perceptions in omnichannel retail. 

Ophélie Duquesne, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations 
Simon Hazée, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations 
Caroline Ducarroz, Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations 

Summary 
In today’s connected world, retailers must rethink and effectively execute their marketing strategies across channels to stay competitive. Despite the several benefits of omnichannel retailing, whether to unify or differentiate promotional practices across online and offline channels remains a controversial topic among researchers and practitioners, potentially impacting business performance. Building upon fairness theory, this multi-experiment research first investigates consumer responses to these promotional strategies and highlights consumers’ aversion to differentiated promotional practices across channels. Secondly, authors delve into consumers’ processes to uncover the reasons why consumers perceive a promotional deal available both online and offline differently from an equivalent online-exclusive or an offline-exclusive deal. Such insights offer retailers clear strategic guidelines to tailor their promotional approaches without hurting consumers’ fairness perceptions. 

Keywords : Differentiated Marketing Decisions, Promotional Practices, Fairness Perceptions.

 

Access on Teams

Informal Research Seminar by Silvia Barghini