Too much of a good thing? On the relationship between CSR and employee work addiction

Recent research highlights the positive effects of organizational CSR engagement on employee outcomes, such as job and life satisfaction, performance, and trust. We argue that the current debate fails to recognize the potential risks associated with CSR. In this study, we focus on the risk of work addiction. We hypothesize that CSR has per se a positive effect on employees and can be classified as a resource. However, we also suggest the existence of an array of unintended negative effects of CSR. Since CSR positively influences an employee’s organizational identification, as well as his or her perception of engaging in meaningful work, which in turn motivates them to work harder while neglecting other spheres of their lives such as private relationships or health, CSR indirectly increases work addiction. Accordingly, organizational identification and work meaningfulness both act as buffering variables in the relationship, thus suppressing the negative effect of CSR on work addiction, which weakens the positive role of CSR in the workplace. Drawing on a sample of 565 Swiss employees taken from the 2017 Swiss Public Value Atlas dataset, our results provide support for our rationale. Our results also provide evidence that the positive indirect effects of organizational CSR engagement on work addiction, via organizational identification and work meaningfulness, become even stronger when employees care for the welfare of the wider public (i.e., the community, nation, or world). Implications for research and practice are discussed

Effect of biaxial stretching of nanolayered poly(ethylene furanoate) (PEF) films on gas barrier properties

OnlineFood packaging films must be reinvented in order to meet the new ecological requirements and challenges. In particular, efforts have been directed to reduce the use of petrochemical polymers and to develop biobased and/or biodegradable polymers. Among those, Poly(ethylene furanoate) (PEF) is a new promising biopolymer with high gas barrier and good mechanical properties, but its high price limits currently its industrial applications. Its combination with another polymer is thus of great interest and film coextrusion could be a relevant processing method for PEF. Nanolayer coextrusion can create hundreds to thousands micro or nanolayers and has been shown to improve the gas barrier properties of some polymers due to various confinement effect [1,2]. In this study, a new grade of PEF, developed by AVA Biochem in the scope of the H2020 Mypack program, has been combined with PET using nanolayer coextrusion. Multilayered films with different PEF layer thicknesses (varying from the micrometer down to the nanometer scale) have been successfully processed. AFM observations have shown the continuity of the PEF layers with individual thicknesses as thin as 40 nm. PEF was amorphous at the end of the coextrusion step and post-thermal annealing was necessary to get a crystallinity degree of 14%. Surprisingly, the gas barrier properties were not improved by the crystallization step. While PEF alone is too brittle to withstand any deformation, it was possible to biaxially stretch amorphous PEF/PET multilayered films with draw ratio as high as 4,5 x 4,5. After a subsequent crystallization, an improvement of a factor 4, compared to the bulk PEF, has been obtained for the gas barrier properties.Projet européen Mypac

New Platform Technology for Comprehensive Serological Diagnostics of Autoimmune Diseases

Antibody assessment is an essential part in the serological diagnosis of autoimmune diseases. However, different diagnostic strategies have been proposed for the work up of sera in particular from patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease (SARD). In general, screening for SARD-associated antibodies by indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) is followed by confirmatory testing covering different assay techniques. Due to lacking automation, standardization, modern data management, and human bias in IIF screening, this two-stage approach has recently been challenged by multiplex techniques particularly in laboratories with high workload. However, detection of antinuclear antibodies by IIF is still recommended to be the gold standard method for antibody screening in sera from patients with suspected SARD. To address the limitations of IIF and to meet the demand for cost-efficient autoantibody screening, automated IIF methods employing novel pattern recognition algorithms for image analysis have been introduced recently. In this respect, the AKLIDES technology has been the first commercially available platform for automated interpretation of cell-based IIF testing and provides multiplexing by addressable microbead immunoassays for confirmatory testing. This paper gives an overview of recently published studies demonstrating the advantages of this new technology for SARD serology

Relationship Between Crystallization, Mechanical and Gas Barrier Properties of Poly(ethylene furanoate) (PEF) in Multinanolayered PLA-PEF and PET-PEF Films

onlineFood packaging films must be reinvented in order to answer the new demanding ecological requirements. Biobased and/or biodegradable polymers appear as an interesting alternative to reduce petroleum dependence and carbon dioxide emissions. Poly(ethylene furanoate) (PEF) appears today as a new promising biopolymer thanks to its good gas barrier and mechanical properties, despite its high price that could limit its industrial applications. Its combination with other polymers is thus of great interest and for the first time, film coextrusion process is used to create PLA-PEF and PET-PEF multi-micro/nano layered films. A new PEF grade developed by AVA Biochem in the H2020 Mypack program, has been used and firstly analysed in terms of melt processability, mechanical, thermal and gas barrier properties. Our major results confirmed the good gas barrier as well as mechanical properties of amorphous PEF. Post-extrusion PEF bulk thermal crystallization led to very brittle material making gas barrier measurements impossible. Micro/nanolayered PLA-PEF and PET-PEF films with different PEF layer thicknesses have been processed and post-extrusion annealing treatment was carried out. The relationship between crystallinity, mechanical and gas barrier properties will be investigated.Projet européen Mypac

Causal hierarchy within the thalamo-cortical network in spike and wave discharges

Background: Generalised spike wave (GSW) discharges are the electroencephalographic (EEG) hallmark of absence seizures, clinically characterised by a transitory interruption of ongoing activities and impaired consciousness, occurring during states of reduced awareness. Several theories have been proposed to explain the pathophysiology of GSW discharges and the role of thalamus and cortex as generators. In this work we extend the existing theories by hypothesizing a role for the precuneus, a brain region neglected in previous works on GSW generation but already known to be linked to consciousness and awareness. We analysed fMRI data using dynamic causal modelling (DCM) to investigate the effective connectivity between precuneus, thalamus and prefrontal cortex in patients with GSW discharges. Methodology and Principal Findings: We analysed fMRI data from seven patients affected by Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy (IGE) with frequent GSW discharges and significant GSW-correlated haemodynamic signal changes in the thalamus, the prefrontal cortex and the precuneus. Using DCM we assessed their effective connectivity, i.e. which region drives another region. Three dynamic causal models were constructed: GSW was modelled as autonomous input to the thalamus (model A), ventromedial prefrontal cortex (model B), and precuneus (model C). Bayesian model comparison revealed Model C (GSW as autonomous input to precuneus), to be the best in 5 patients while model A prevailed in two cases. At the group level model C dominated and at the population-level the p value of model C was ∼1. Conclusion: Our results provide strong evidence that activity in the precuneus gates GSW discharges in the thalamo-(fronto) cortical network. This study is the first demonstration of a causal link between haemodynamic changes in the precuneus - an index of awareness - and the occurrence of pathological discharges in epilepsy. © 2009 Vaudano et al

The valuation of values

The doctoral thesis explores the relationship of Business and Society in four essays. The growing public, corporate and academic interest in organizational contribution to society – in this thesis measured as Public Value, Shared Value and Corporate Social Responsibility – poses the question how we can determine value creation beyond financial benefits. The thesis provides psychological and sociological perspectives to shed light on this pressuring question. The psychological view in essay four shows that value is rooted in relationship between an observing subject and an object that is to be evaluated, thus, it is not objectively out there. This perspective is rooted in motivational psychology of basic human needs upon which individuals assess the contribution of organizations to society. Adding to this emotional-affective perspective on human psychology, we show that cognition (‘cognitive styles’) plays a vital role in individuals’ determination of how value for society is created. Essay three provides evidence that how an individual perceives value creation for society reciprocally affects the individual. We show that employees who perceive their organizations’ value creation more strongly, also derive higher levels of meaningfulness from their work and identify more strongly with their employing organization, which in turn is related to higher levels of work addiction. The final paper takes a sociological perspective borrowed from the actor network theory and shows that some discourses concerning corporate value creation for society narrow the concept of value for society down to a self-serving notion for corporations. In a case study, the essay not only shows how this narrow concept infuses corporate action but, moreover, it details how it negatively impacts society. The multi-facetted approach of the dissertation furthers the understanding of the notion of value creation for society as much as it poses new questions and calls for ambivalent investigation.:1. FRAMEWORK PAPER 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Society, Knowledge and Performativity 1.3 Technology, Complexity and Trust 1.4 Framework of the Dissertation 1.5 Four Essays on the Relationship of Business and Society 1.6 Overview of Key Findings 1.7 Implications 1.8 Strengths, Limitations, and Avenues for Future Research 1.9 References 2. MAKING SENSE OF A MOST POPULAR METAPHOR IN MANAGEMENT: TOWARDS A HEDGEFOX SCALE FOR COGNITIVE STYLES 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Theoretical Background 2.3 Data and Methods 2.4 Analysis and Findings 2.5 Discussion 2.6 Limitations and Future Research 2.7 Conclusion 2.8 References 3. TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING? ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CSR AND EMPLOYEE WORK ADDICTION 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Development of Hypotheses 3.3 Method 3.4 Results 3.5 Discussion and Conclusion 3.6 References 4. CREATING SHARED VALUE? ON THE PROLIFERATION OF A RESOURCE-BASED SOCIAL 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Agencements and the Proliferation of the Social 4.3 Creating Shared Value 4.4 From a Value Proposition to a Network of Valuation 4.5 Nestlé in Society 4.6 Insuring Shared Value 4.7 Discussion 4.8 Conclusion 4.9 References 5. PUBLIC VALUE PERFORMANCE: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CREATE VALUE IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR? 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Theoretical background 5.3 Public Value Scorecard (PVSC) 5.4 Public Value Atlas (GemeinwohlAtlas) 5.5 Conclusions 5.6 Reference

Making Sense of a Most Popular Metaphor in Management: Towards a HedgeFox Scale for Cognitive Styles

Research on cognitive style has gathered momentum over the past 40 years, especially with respect to learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. This investigation adapts Tetlock’s hedgehog–fox scale for German-speaking respondents through three large-scale studies (n = 17,072) and examines the influence of cognitive style on employees’ public value assessments of their employing organizations. Our data led us to propose a revised and more economical HedgeFox Scale. In contrast with Tetlock’s findings, our results provide empirical and theoretical arguments for a two-factor structure. This shift in dimensionality affects the nature of the construct and aligns hedgehog–fox research with the latest developments in cognitive style research. Our results contribute to the ongoing interest in the dimensionality of cognitive styles and support the call for a more diverse picture. Finally, we provide recommendations for individuals and organizations

Physical Activity, Climate Change and Health—A Conceptual Model for Planning Public Health Action at the Organizational Level

Climate change is linked to health risks for both professional and amateur athletes. Sports organisations will need to react to these developments. The starting point for this concept paper is a summary of the sport-specific health risks currently under discussion: increasing heatwaves, growing numbers of extreme weather events, rising UV, ozone and allergen levels and the spread of infectious diseases. Based on the current state of research, a conceptual model is developed to reduce these climate-related health risks in sports at organisational level. Given the wide variety of predicted direct and indirect health risks linked to climate change, the “sports, clubs and climate change model” (SC3 model) presented here follows a stepwise risk-specific approach using technical, organisational and person-related measures. The SC3 model also includes cross-cutting measures that have an overarching effect comprising training, warning systems, coordination and evaluation measures. The SC3 model makes it possible to develop prevention plans, both at national level for central associations and at the regional level of local organisations and clubs. It can be applied to typical settings (e.g., training or competition at elite or amateur levels) and target groups (e.g., athletes, spectators, referees and club officials)

Public value performance: what does it mean to create value in the public sector?

Public administrations are required by law to contribute to society, thus obliged to shape the common good. What value they have to society is uncovered by their public value. This chapter provides an approach to public value management that is relevant for organizations, NGOs, and governmental institutions, in order to systematically investigate their contributions to society. Previous work on public value serves as a good starting point, providing significant public value perspectives. We follow this by a conceptual delineation of the public value concept according to Timo Meynhardt, who roots the notion of value in psychological needs theory and thereby links public value directly to a conditio humana. As cases in point, we identify and discuss two management tools, the Public Value Scorecard (PVSC) and the Public Value Atlas. We conclude with a short reflection on how public value can advance public sector management