Is Property an Insurance or an Additional Burden? Financial Stress Among Homeowners in Europe

A crucial function of wealth is to protect individuals from the consequences of adverse life events. However, sometimes wealth also implies additional financial risks. In addition to the insurance function of homeownership (the most common form of wealth), we therefore also examine financial squeezes that reflect the indebtedness and social embeddedness of homeowners and limit their options for dealing with social risks. A third hypothesis expects a trade‐off between social protection and homeownership. Taking the example of unemployment, we examine the effects of short‐term unemployment on the perceived financial situation of households based on data derived from EU‐SILC for 27 European countries. It can be shown that debt‐free homeownership reduces financial stress in the case of unemployment compared to tenants and indebted owners. A debt‐free home thus offers an additional buffer and insurance against the financial consequences of unemployment. However, indebted homeowners are particularly hard hit by unemployment because they have to use all their financial resources to pay off their mortgages. Finally, we did not find a trade‐off but a cumulation of advantages due to homeownership and generous unemployment benefits in countries with high net replacement rates

The role of individual ambidexterity for organizational performance: examining effects of ambidextrous knowledge seeking and offering

Empirical research has confirmed positive effects of organizational ambidexterity for companies’ long-term performance. More recent research has shifted the focus from organizational level exploration and exploitation to the individual in order to understand psychological micro-foundations of individual ambidexterity. However, our current knowledge on how knowledge flows within individual ambidexterity are initiated and affect performance outcomes is limited. This study thus strives to shed light on the topic by introducing two mechanisms, namely ambidextrous knowledge seeking and ambidextrous knowledge offering, that capture how knowledge flows within individual ambidexterity are initiated. Based on survey-data from 415 employees, findings from structural equation modeling provide first empirical evidence that the focal constructs significantly affect knowledge accumulation on the department level as well as its performance. Finally, results from additional moderation analysis indicate, that ambidextrous knowledge offering leads to higher performance effects in environments characterized by the pursuit of radical innovations, while ambidextrous knowledge seeking is rather suited for environments with a focus on innovating incrementally

Innovate or game over? Examining effects of product innovativeness on video game success

In recent years, the video game industry has invested signifcant amounts in the development of innovative elements for its products. However, it is still subject to debate whether these R&D investments always pay of. While prior research has con frmed that enhancing product innovativeness increases business performance in certain industries, corresponding fndings for the video game market are lacking. This might be a result of missing theoretical conceptualizations and adequate empiri cal operationalizations of game innovativeness. Addressing this research gap, this study provides the frst conceptualization and operationalization of game innovativeness, shedding frst light on its performance efects. Based on longitudinal data on 351 computer games, our fndings confrm that innovations in the game’s presentation and principle enhance short-term success, whereas innovations in a game’s storyline can be more of a hindrance than a godsend for companies. However, our results also show that performance efects of game innovativeness diminish over time

Flawless victory! Investigating search and experience qualities as antecedent predictors of video game success

In recent years, video games have been on the rise as entertainment goods, leading to a growing interest by practitioners, researchers, and, of course, consumers alike. While a few unusually successful video games produce overall high revenues, most released games struggle to break even. Hence, there is an urgent need to better understand what distinguishes fnancially successful games from nonsuccessful video games. Accordingly, several researchers have called for investigations into the drivers of the fnancial success of video games. However, empirical studies within this respect are still lacking. Based on longitudinal data of 351 video games, the current study strives to fll this research gap by investigating the relative importance of potential success factors for the short-term and long-term fnancial success of video games. The results of multiple regression analyses confrm that search qualities such as brand popularity, reviews, and awards as well as experience qualities such as graphics, sound, and game duration signifcantly drive fnancial success in terms of the total number of sold video games in Europe. Consequently, managers in the video game industry can boost their chances for the production of a successful video game by focusing on these factors

Polarization and marginalization during the Eurozone crisis: The persistence of Eurosclerosis

The Great Recession and the Eurozone crisis taking place since 2008 are real-life tests for policies aimed at promoting inclusive labor markets in the Eurozone. Therefore, this article discusses first how the risk of being a labor market outsider evolved in the Eurozone during the crises, and whether this risk diverged between social groups. Using EU-SILC data, we describe the overall level of outsider risks before and during the crises - risks of being either unemployed, temporarily employed or earning a low wage - among the labor force ('polarization') and the concentration of these risks among vulnerable groups ('marginalization'). Our results show that the outsider risks have particularly increased in the Southern European countries, and for young workers throughout the EU, and in the case of unemployment, also for low-skilled workers. In the second step, we study how employment protection legislation, union density and wage bargaining systems influence polarization and marginalization in the context of an economic crisis. In contrast to discussions about the end of Eurosclerosis, we find that strict employment protection and centralized bargaining in-crease the marginalization of vulnerable groups while strong unions can reduce polarization

Business Model Innovation Through the Lens of Time: An Empirical Study of Performance Implications Across Venture Life Cycles

Current literature suggests that the innovation of a business model is among the most important success factors for organizations and has a positive influence on their performance. What is not yet clear, however, is how this relationship unfolds during an organization’s life cycle. We posit that business model innovation strongly contributes to firm performance in earlier phases, but ultimately gets less important. We therefore collected data on 250 organizations in Germany and used structural equation modeling for analytical purposes. We make the following two main contributions to the literature: (1) We confirm recent findings about the positive impact of business model innovation on performance; (2) we provide first empirical evidence for the important role of life cycle stages as moderator with regard to this relationship. With respect to the latter, our findings show that business model innovation is an important pathway of organizations, especially in their early years of existence, yet somewhat diminishing over time. In conclusion, this study opens new research avenues by extending and incorporating explanations for the life cycle theory and business model innovation

Identifying Factors Associated with Consumers’ Adoption of e-Mobility—A Systematic Literature Review

Electrification of road transport—replacing internal combustion engine vehicles with new energy vehicles such as electric vehicles (EVs)—seems to be a promising step towards achieving sustainable urban development, yet the diffusion of EVs is proceeding slowly. Investigating this phenomenon, researchers have provided numerous findings. However, these findings also created a fragmented and heterogeneous body of literature. This article applies a systematic literature review to establish a status quo of factors associated with the adoption of EVs. A total of 49 articles were identified and analyzed in detail for their contribution to EV adoption. The results from the systematic literature review were synthesized. The article ends with implications for policymakers and suggests fruitful research avenues for future investigations

Consequences of mandated usage of innovations in organizations: developing an innovation decision model of symbolic and forced adoption

In organizations, mandated adoption contexts are the rule rather than the exception. Individuals, who are denied the choice between adopting and rejecting an innovation, are more likely to engage in opposition behavior, particularly if the innovation conflicts with their held beliefs. Interestingly, neither the construct of forced adoption nor its consequences have received much research attention. To address this gap, we conduct a systematic literature review and provide theoretical rationales for the emergence of innovation resistance and opposition behaviors in organizations. We then develop an innovation decision model of individual adoption behavior that localizes negative outcomes of the secondary adoption process along the different process stages, providing insights into their emergence and potential consequences for the organization. Furthermore, we identify important avenues for future research and show how our innovation decision model can be used to advance theory development on forced adoption

The Process-Outcome Mindfulness Effects in Trainees (PrOMET) study: protocol of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial

Background: Mindfulness has its origins in an Eastern Buddhist tradition that is over 2500 years old and can be defined as a specific form of attention that is non-judgmental, purposeful, and focused on the present moment. It has been well established in cognitive-behavior therapy in the last decades, while it has been investigated in manualized group settings such as mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. However, there is scarce research evidence on the effects of mindfulness as a treatment element in individual therapy. Consequently, the demand to investigate mindfulness under effectiveness conditions in trainee therapists has been highlighted. Methods/Design: To fill in this research gap, we designed the PrOMET Study. In our study, we will investigate the effects of brief, audiotape-presented, session-introducing interventions with mindfulness elements conducted by trainee therapists and their patients at the beginning of individual therapy sessions in a prospective, randomized, controlled design under naturalistic conditions with a total of 30 trainee therapists and 150 patients with depression and anxiety disorders in a large outpatient training center. We hypothesize that the primary outcomes of the session-introducing intervention with mindfulness elements will be positive effects on therapeutic alliance (Working Alliance Inventory) and general clinical symptomatology (Brief Symptom Checklist) in contrast to the session-introducing progressive muscle relaxation and treatment-as-usual control conditions. Treatment duration is 25 therapy sessions. Therapeutic alliance will be assessed on a session-to-session basis. Clinical symptomatology will be assessed at baseline, session 5, 15 and 25. We will conduct multilevel modeling to address the nested data structure. The secondary outcome measures include depression, anxiety, interpersonal functioning, mindful awareness, and mindfulness during the sessions. Discussion: The study results could provide important practical implications because they could inform ideas on how to improve the clinical training of psychotherapists that could be implemented very easily; this is because there is no need for complex infrastructures or additional time concerning these brief session-introducing interventions with mindfulness elements that are directly implemented in the treatment sessions. Trial registration: From ClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: NCT02270073 (registered October 6, 2014

Methods for L-ribooligonucleotide sequence determination using LCMS

The ability to verify the sequence of a nucleic acid-based therapeutic is an essential step in the drug development process. The challenge associated with sequence identification increases with the length and nuclease resistance of the nucleic acid molecule, the latter being an important attribute of therapeutic oligonucleotides. We describe methods for the sequence determination of Spiegelmers, which are enantiomers of naturally occurring RNA with high resistance to enzymatic degradation. Spiegelmer sequencing is effected by affixing a label or hapten to the 5′-end of the oligonucleotide and chemically degrading the molecule in a controlled fashion to generate fragments that are then resolved and identified using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The Spiegelmer sequence is then derived from these fragments. Examples are shown for two different Spiegelmers (NOX-E36 and NOX-A12), and the specificity of the method is shown using a NOX-E36 mismatch control