Results of the FSR 2020 calls for proposals
In the context of the UCLouvain FSR 2020 call for proposals, two projects proposed by three academics of our institute got a grant. Congratulations to them!
- Prof. Eline Jammaers and Prof. Laurent Taskin will start a research in the field of Human Resource Management with a project entitled “New Ways of Working: enabling or disabling employees with impairments?”.
Critical management scholars have raised concerns about contemporary trends of converting organizations into ‘new ways of working’. Such desire, driven by a quest for more efficient and effective organizing involves, among other things, an important spatial shift from fixed cellular offices to flexible, activity-based workplaces. Despite a belief that this will benefit workplace democracy, it remains unsure to what extent new bodily norms of the flexible and mobile employee will benefit or disadvantage people with physical and/or cognitive impairments. Through a mixed-method design, this project aims to uncover the disabling/enabling effects of such changes for an already marginalized group.
- Prof. Gordy Pleyers proposes a research in the field of marketing about the impacts of product design on consumers’ perceptions.
In our modern societies, consumers are constantly having to choose products from wide ranges of possible alternatives, but with limited “resources” (in terms of time, motivation, and/or mental capacity). In such a context, the appearance of a product is crucial as it can largely influence consumers’ perceptions “automatically”, without requiring the increased levels of resources typically needed for examining explicit (written) information. This project will investigate how specific product design elements (e.g. shape, images) can influence consumers’ responses (e.g. emotion, health- or sustainability-related thoughts, sensory perceptions) at an “unconscious” level. It will be based on experimental studies carried out in laboratory and using methods drawn from the field of cognitive neuroscience.
They will be looking for two PhD researchers to conduct these projects with them. Interested by these topics? Contact the researchers or stay tuned for the job opportunities.