2024
Thesis committee: Prof. Daniel Oyon (supervisor), Prof. Antonio Davila (internal expert), Giovanni-Battista Derchi, EHL (external expert), Prof. Michael Burkert, University of Fribourg (external expert)
Abstract: This dissertation analyzes three drivers of firms’ long-term performance: stakeholder management, resource management and artificial intelligence (AI) tools management. In the first chapter, we use an exogenous setting to analyze how stakeholders’ power and urgency of their claims influence the relationship between corporate social performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP). Our results indicate that firms following a stakeholder salience approach outperform their peers and contributes both theoretically and empirically to the advancement of the stakeholder salience theory. It has also practical contributions helping managers define effective and context-dependent CSR activities in order to maximize CFP.
In the second chapter, the study examines the relationship between the asymmetric adjustments of costs to revenue increases and decreases (i.e., cost stickiness), capital structure and profitability. It introduces a novel measure of cost stickiness and addresses endogeneity issues using instrumental variables. Results indicate that high-sticky-cost firms have lower financial leverage, shorter debt maturity, higher cash holdings, but also higher profitability, adding to both the accounting and corporate finance literatures.
In the third chapter, we conduct a randomized field experiment that examines the algorithm appreciation phenomenon, where humans tend to trust AI advice more than advice from human peers (as opposed to algorithm aversion). We randomly assign subjects to two experimental groups receiving advice either labeled to come from an AI system or from human peers. Our results are in line with recent laboratory experiments documenting algorithm appreciation. However, we find that this greatly varies with subject characteristics with both male and high-knowledge subjects placing considerably less weight on AI advice.
Thesis committee: Prof. Sandor Czellar (supervisor), Prof. Tobias Schlager (internal expert), Prof. Susan Clayton, The College of Wooster (external expert)
Abstract: Global warming is a pressing issue which poses a significant challenge for humanity. Human activities have played a substantial role in climate change, emphasizing the need for concerted efforts to mitigate the environmental impacts of individual behaviors. An essential component of this effort is understanding our relationship with the natural environment. Environmental identity refers to the sense of connection to the natural world and is conceptualized as a dynamic interaction between individuals and their environment, shaping how humans perceive and interact with their surroundings. This dissertation contributes to the field of consumer behavior through the lens of identity theory to comprehend the impacts of environmental identity on sustainable consumer behavior. The first essay explores the nuanced meanings individuals attribute to nature by establishing a typology of nature-related associations and a nomological framework, providing a foundation for future research in environmental psychology and marketing. The second essay proposes an efficient strategy to activate environmental identity, demonstrated through a series of online- and laboratory studies using both scenario-based stimuli and actual marketing material. The research findings show that inviting consumers to consider their relationship with nature is more likely to lead to stronger environmental identity salience effects than inviting them to think about nature alone. The third essay advances research on environmental identity by developing a concise measurement of environmental identity salience (how frequently individuals think about their relationship with nature) and demonstrates the applied value of the new measure for the prediction of both self-reported and actual behaviors.