Hanken School of Economics

Contemporary human-centered organization and management practices endanger the planet’s health, affecting the life and death of multiple species—including humans. Drawing on insights from multispecies ethnography and feminist new materialism, this article contributes to the business ethics literature by developing a theoretical framework for multispecies organizing as a matter of care. Going beyond existing understandings of human-animal relations, we show how ethico-political dynamics shape multispecies relations in three ways: how we and other species relate to ecologies-in-place (affective relationalities); what we and other species do (vital doings); and, finally, what kinds of worlds we—through our ethical sensibilities—commit to bringing into being (ethical obligations). Using an illustrative example of a rewilding site in England, this article shows how multispecies organizing plays out in a specific ecology-in-place. Our argument has important implications for the conception and contemporary practices of the organizational ethics of life and death.

Strategic flexibility is the key to navigating turbulent and complex times, yet its managerial antecedents lack adequate examinations. With interest in testing an explanation from the ‘strategic fit’ paradigm, where the top management is the key, we develop a new theory integrating CEO, TMT, and environmental attributes. We propose that the CEO’s social class is an important contextual factor that influences the effects of TMT posture in terms of two types of regulatory focus on firm strategic flexibility, which is further contingent upon different environmental conditions. The empirical findings from two studies support the prominent role of CEO social class in the relationships between TMT promotion/prevention focus and firm strategic flexibility. Moreover, the moderation effects of CEO social class are stronger when the firm faces higher market or regulatory uncertainty, a typical situation faced by firms in the Asia Pacific. Our study highlights that the interaction of the CEO’s social status and the TMT’s regulatory focus is important to understand if and how firms are executing strategic flexibility in turbulent times.

Research Question/Issue This study examines the relationship between the representation of ethnic minority independent directors (hereafter, minority directors) on corporate boards, CEO–employee pay disparity, and workforce diversity. It addresses a critical gap in understanding the effectiveness of minority directors as corporate monitors, particularly amidst growing pressure on leading US firms to improve minority representation at both board and organizational levels. Research Findings/Insights Using data from S&P 1500 firms (2017–2022), we find that minority directors on corporate boards are linked to higher CEO–employee pay disparity, driven by increased CEO compensation and reduced employee pay. On a positive note, minority directors are associated with initiatives like employee resource groups and greater ethnic minority representation among staff and managers. These findings remain consistent across analyses addressing endogeneity concerns like difference‐in‐differences and entropy balancing. Theoretical/Academic Implications The study contributes to the literature by investigating the role of minority directors in corporate governance, particularly in relation to pay disparities and workforce diversity. It offers new insights into the potential benefits and complexities of minority representation on corporate boards. Practitioner/Policy Implications The inclusion of minority directors enhances diversity initiatives like employee resource groups and increasing minority representation across the workforce but may shift board focus away from rigorous oversight. This can lead to unintended outcomes, such as greater pay disparities and weaker pay–performance alignment. Balancing diversity efforts with robust governance is essential to ensure both inclusion and effective oversight.

Finnish national preparedness is conceptualized in the comprehensive security model (CSM). It presents a cooperation model for Finnish security stakeholders: officials, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), companies, and citizens. The concept of resilience is sparingly used in Finnish strategy documents but is a major objective for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which Finland joined in 2023. NATO sets the minimum criteria for national preparedness in seven NATO baseline requirements (NBRs) of resilience. NATO considers resilience a national responsibility. This paper investigates to what extent the Finnish CSM covers the NBRs, and which stakeholders are entrusted with safeguarding them. A framework utilizing the seven NBRs and three stakeholder levels is developed. Recent Finnish Government level documents are used as the main source of data for the study, supplemented with expert interviews. The results suggest that the CSM covers all the NBRs. The CSM is also broader in scope than the NBRs. The two NBR categories, ability to deal with large-scale population movements and resilient civilian transportation systems , are not covered regarding the individual citizens’ level, but this is not deemed to be a major problem.

We investigate how globalization‐induced import competition affects stock price crash risk. Import competition increases price pressure and reduces profit margins, prompting managers to withhold negative information, resulting in higher crash risk. Based on a sample of US manufacturing firms from 1974 to 2019, we find that firms whose products face declining shipping costs experience increased stock price crash risk. To address endogeneity, we employ a difference‐in‐differences design centered on China's 2000 Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status. Our findings indicate that a stock's tail risk depends not only on firm and managerial characteristics but also on heterogeneous exposure to macroeconomic trends such as globalization.

Algorithmic persuasion is a mode of organizing that happens through inducing experiences that covertly seek to influence behavior by presenting an ongoing stream of affective recommendations. This essay advances the thesis that this mode of algorithmic organizing has the capacity to affect individuals’ sense of their self and explores how and why this may happen. It suggests that individuals may be susceptible to experiencing AI recommendation systems as sublime. Their sublime qualities give normative force to their recommendations and, through them, appeal to one’s affective drives, fears, and hopes, revealing who or what one is or may become. This subjecting of one’s self to these recommendations warrants two critical observations: a behavioral preference we call “people-like-you” and the emergence of “algorithm conformity” as an organizing force. Yet, there can be epistemic corruption in the recommendations. This epistemic corruption is the else , whose experience can evoke uncanny feelings and carries with it the possibility to break the spell of the sublime and to escape and resist algorithm conformity. But can such experiences, individual and dispersed, give rise to actions of collective resistance in a world of algorithmic capitalism?

This study examines the moderating role of female directorship in the corporate boardroom in the relationship between firm performance and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation for Bangladeshi financial institutions from 2016–2022. Ordinary least squares regression models were employed to evaluate the relationship. We find a significant positive correlation between firm performance and CEO compensation, specifically in relation to accounting performance. Female directorship strengthens the CEO pay-performance link in both accounting and market-based measures of performance. These results are robust to a battery of tests, including alternative measures of female board presence and firm performance, and address endogeneity issues using a lagged model and entropy balancing technique. We also find that women are more effective in setting CEO pay-performance linkage in cases of concentrated ownership, and when their presence goes beyond tokenism. Investors and policymaker should prioritize the inclusion of women on corporate boards to improve the firm's financial performance. This study contributes to the expanding body of research on board gender diversity in developing economies by examining the impact of women directors on firm performance and CEO pay, and their influence on the effectiveness of board oversight.

Research Question/Issue This study examines whether the shareholder preferences for female directors alter around the introduction of mandated gender quotas in France. In addition, we analyze whether shareholders revalue female qualifications different from male ones around quota introductions. Research Findings/Insights We observe greater shareholder support for female nominees subsequent to the quota introduction. However, the disparities in voting outcomes between female and male nominees can be entirely explained by controlling for director characteristics. This suggests that female directors, with valuable characteristics such as independence, are to a greater extent nominated post‐quota. An important discovery from our analysis is that shareholders revise their assessment of female qualifications post‐quota, thereby establishing female qualifications as equally valuable as those of their male counterparts. Theoretical/Academic Implications Contrary to the arguments of gender quota opponents, our findings indicate that the supply of qualified female candidates meets the quota induced incremental demand. The results suggest that the prior underrepresentation of female directors stems from director labor market frictions. Overall, our study has significant implications for the ongoing debate concerning mandated gender quotas in shaping corporate governance practices. Practitioner/Policy Implications Our analysis has policy implications, as neither shareholder votes for female directors nor the stock market reactions around the quota introduction show evidence of mandated gender quotas having adverse effects. Instead, we observe positive externalities by altering shareholders' perceptions of the qualifications of female directors. This suggests that mandated gender quotas can serve as a pivotal catalyst for change, even in countries with notably low female pre‐quota board representation.

Research suggests that accelerated internationalization is accidental and that a firm-specific business model (BM) determines which firms become accelerated internationalizers and which become gradual internationalizers. However, in analysing entrepreneurs adopting different internationalization types (accelerated and gradual) from Finland, New Zealand and Sweden, we find a complex interplay between entrepreneurs’ mindsets and emerging BM practices with respect to their internationalizing firms. These practices enable small international firms to eliminate the time and cost penalties associated with the triple liabilities of accelerated internationalization (i.e., newness, outsidership and smallness). This study contributes to the literature by reconciling the alternative explanations offered in previous research and reveals how entrepreneurs’ global and regional mindsets affect their BM practices, leading to different international trajectories. It further contributes by showing that the entrepreneur’s role may be more important than that of the BM.

This paper examines the impact of algorithmic trading on market quality using a unique NASDAQ OMX Nordic dataset from 2010–2011. We classify traders into algorithmic, institutional, professional, and retail categories. Using two-way fixed effects models and instrumental variables estimation, we find that algorithmic traders enhance liquidity by reducing bid-ask spreads by 0.28 basis points relative to retail traders, with similar effects from institutional traders. These effects persist during high volatility periods, while professional traders are associated with wider spreads. Surprisingly, retail traders emerge as significant liquidity providers, while algorithmic traders exhibit higher order cancellation rates. These findings contribute to the debate on algorithmic trading's role in modern markets and offer implications for market design and regulation.

Online reviews significantly influence consumer decision-making in digital marketplaces, yet the proliferation of fake reviews threatens their credibility. This study investigates the psycholinguistic features that differentiate human-written fake reviews from genuine ones and explores how these features, along with distributional semantics, can be leveraged for automatic detection. Using a dataset of 3070 reviews from 307 participants, we analyze linguistic patterns with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count tool and train machine learning classifiers to predict review authenticity. Our findings reveal distinct psycholinguistic markers in fake reviews, including heightened cognitive processes and emotional exaggeration, and demonstrate the superior performance of transformer-based models like BERT in fake review detection. This research contributes theoretically by linking psycholinguistic cues with advanced natural language processing techniques and offers practical insights for improving review monitoring systems.

This study answers calls for reflexive debate on marketization by re-evaluating its dynamics in the context of a cultural field. As cultural organizations face increased pressures amid diminishing state funding, marketization is often framed as a one-sided dominance of the market logic that risks commodifying art and eroding its intrinsic value. However, the purpose of our research is to rethink marketization by generating a more nuanced understanding of the coexistence of market and cultural field logics. Departing from institutional logics as a method theory, we conduct a systematic literature review of 118 papers to synthesize evidence of how interactions of seemingly incompatible logics can contribute to the cultural field's transformative potential. The study provides two key contributions. First, we draw attention to an overlooked dynamic of generative coexistence, a field-level phenomenon that arises from complex interrelations between cultural field properties, tensions within the field, and actors’ efforts to influence the development of the field. We develop a framework that captures how the generative coexistence of market and cultural field logics occurs when market logic is interpreted beyond pure economic exchange. Second, the framework identifies three forms of purpose-driven market work—the deliberate efforts by actors to (re)interpret and enact market logic in the cultural field without compromising its core values: (1) recognizing cultural products' commercial appeal, (2) adopting entrepreneurialism, and (3) aligning on shared goals rather than means. We conclude by explicating implications for practitioners and future research avenues.

Existing voice research tends to focus on the positive outcomes associated with promotive voice and the negative outcomes associated with prohibitive voice. We adopt a self‐determination theoretical lens to examine what voicers stand to gain by engaging in both types of voice despite the potential backlash against them for their voice behavior (particularly prohibitive voice). We conducted two experience‐sampling studies that examined the fluctuation of voice on a daily (Study 1) and weekly (Study 2) basis. In Study 1, we found that while promotive voice was positively associated with the voicer's psychological need satisfaction, prohibitive voice was not. In addition, the association between promotive voice and the voicer's psychological need satisfaction was stronger than that of prohibitive voice and the voicer's psychological need satisfaction. In Study 2, we found that both promotive voice and prohibitive voice were indirectly related to the voicer's authentic self‐expression and helping behavior through the mediating mechanism of psychological need satisfaction, although the indirect effects of promotive voice were stronger than the indirect effects of prohibitive voice.

The study aims to investigate the relationship between board members’ expertise in business, economics, or law and the financial performance of firms in an emerging economy. Based on a sample of 280 firm-years from listed banks spanning from 2016 to 2023, we employ OLS regression with multiple robustness tests to examine our research hypotheses. Grounded in resource dependency theory (RDT) and the resource-based view (RBV), the findings reveal a positive effect of board expertise, measured by the highest academic credentials (i.e., PhD) or professional qualifications, on firm performance. Moreover, board independence strengthens this positive relationship. These findings are robust to a battery of tests, including alternative measures of board expertise and addressing endogeneity issues using lead-lag and dynamic GMM models. The results highlight the importance of enhancing corporate governance by appointing more expert and independent directors. Implications extend to policymakers, nomination and remuneration committees, and shareholders in improving board selection strategies. By providing empirical evidence on the value of specialized knowledge in boardrooms, this study contributes to research on corporate governance in emerging economies like Bangladesh. Overall, the findings supporting RDT and RBV demonstrate that board expertise enhances decision-making, thereby improving firm performance.

This paper studies how the relations between nature and society are constructed in disaster governance frameworks. Dominant disaster governance frameworks present nature and society as separate realms, and the organisation of society is increasingly seen as the key cause of hazards and disasters. Disaster impacts are similarly framed around adverse societal consequences, while other‐than‐human nature is merely the background across which disasters unfold, as property lost, or a means of disaster governance. Although the centrality of human impacts is troubled when biodiversity or a disaster flagship species is threatened, neither situation challenges the nature–society dualism embedded in dominant disaster governance frameworks. The attention and resources of disaster governance target the societal side of nature–society dualism. This study finds, though, that in peripheries characterised by remoteness from centres of power, a sparse human population, and large spaces of other‐than‐human nature, the vulnerabilities facing humans and other‐than‐human nature risk being ungoverned.

This study develops a theory of social proof in angel investing. We propose that availability bias leads angel group members to copy the highly visible decisions of new investors evaluating the same opportunity ( external social proof) and overlook the more insightful reinvestment decisions of prior investors ( internal social proof). We also theorize that more experienced investors generally herd less but selectively imitate knowledgeable investors from prior rounds. A study of investments by 469 angel group members and a vignette experiment with 367 participants support our hypotheses. Our findings contribute to research on social proof, decision-making under uncertainty, and investment experience.

Our research has focused on addressing the following research questions for the growth strategies of SMEs: (1) What are the stages of profitable growth, and what factors contribute to these growth stages? (2) Which critical factors must be addressed for an organization to progress to the next stages of growth? (3) What is the importance of management in identifying and addressing critical growth factors? We have utilized the Delphi method and emphasized the role of company managers who have experienced profitable growth process as experts. Based on our findings, we have developed a Six-Stage Model of Profitable Growth (SSMPG), which we explain in detail in the article. The SSMPG model is compared to the prevailing Death Valley and Startup growth company development models. The article identifies the most crucial factors for the profitable growth of SMEs at different stages of growth within the SSMPG model. This model emphasizes sales, profitability, the individual characteristics of the entrepreneur, and leadership, in contrast to the debt-driven growth models emphasized in the other approaches. Further research could explore developing a start-up business culture using the new phasing model in Europe and elsewhere. In the future, it is important to consider profitability at both the company level and within clusters and regions.

This article examines how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and firms can collaborate on a contested corporate social responsibility (CSR) issue in lobbying the government to regulate businesses. Previous research has established how various contextual, organizational, and interactional factors affect cross-sector collaboration. However, there is little research on specific strategies that organizations can use to collaborate on contested and divisive issues. While research on CSR has introduced decontestation as a way of establishing dominant interpretations or depoliticization of CSR, through an empirical study, we suggest that decontestation can be used as a means of constituting cross-sector collaboration around contested issues and as a strategy for lobbying politicians and the public. We identified different mechanisms of decontestation employed by a Finnish cross-sector coalition in lobbying for human rights due diligence regulation. Our findings expand the literature on CSR decontestation and contribute to a better understanding of how NGOs and firms can form and collaborate in a cross-sector coalition to advance a contested issue.

We introduce a collective experimentation problem where a continuum of agents choose the timing of irreversible actions under uncertainty and where public feedback from the actions arrives gradually over time. The leading application is the adoption of new technologies. The socially optimal expansion path entails an informational trade‐off where acting today speeds up learning but postponing capitalizes on the option value of waiting. We contrast the social optimum to the decentralized equilibrium where agents ignore the social value of information they generate. We show that the equilibrium can be obtained by assuming that agents ignore the future actions of other agents, which lets us recast the complicated two‐dimensional problem as a series of one‐dimensional problems.