Telfer - Publications

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10393/12919

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The Stakeholder Orientation Paradox: Implications for Supplier Sustainability Risk and the Role of Institutional Distance
(2025-06-27) Boodoo, Muhammad Umar; Hajmohammad, Sara; Klassen, Robert D.; Choudhary, Alok
Purpose―Stakeholder orientation is a strategic approach to identify and mitigate supplier sustainability risk (SSR) across different institutional contexts. However, increased orientation may also alter stakeholder expectations and implied obligations, potentially exacerbating risk. We refer to this tension between opposing effects as the stakeholder orientation paradox. Drawing on stakeholder and expectancy theories, this study theorizes and empirically investigates the paradoxical relationship between a firm’s stakeholder orientation and SSR, moderated by the institutional distance between the firm’s home country and the country where the risk arises. Design/methodology/approach―Econometric models are constructed and estimated using a unique panel dataset of 27,545 observations derived from multiple data sources from 2009 to 2023, encompassing 5,911 supply chain sustainability incidents across 170 countries and involving 811 buying firms headquartered in 44 countries. Findings―Our findings reveal a paradoxical positive association between stakeholder orientation and SSR, amplified by institutional distance. Thus, notable evidence supports the need to integrate expectancy theory facets into stakeholder theory considerations as firms (re)shape their efforts to mitigate SSR. Originality/value―This study contributes to the scarce empirical literature on SSR antecedents and advances understanding of counterintuitive stakeholder orientation outcomes. While prior research has highlighted the benefits of stakeholder orientation, our findings suggest that firms need to “walk the talk” to reduce SSR. Furthermore, by exploring the role of institutional distance, we extend the research on stakeholder orientation beyond its typical U.S.-centric scope. Practical implications―As firms strengthen their stakeholder orientation, care must be exercised to avoid over-promising sustainability commitments and under-delivering on supply chain performance. Proactive engagement with diverse stakeholder groups, tailored to distant institutional contexts, can alert firms to emerging problems and prompt immediate action with suppliers before incidents escalate further.
Gestion et société : responsabilité, éthique et gouvernance dans les organisations contemporaines
(2025) Nelson, Eric Lyall
Ce manuel explore l’éthique à la lumière de l’interstice des activités de gestion et des transformations socioéconomiques, technologiques et environnementales qui marquent notre époque. L’ouvrage est construit selon le genre d’un examen critique de la rencontre de ces deux composantes que sont la gestion et les sociétés. Une distinction à effectuer entre les organisations et les institutions est imposée comme point de départ. L’organisation est ce sur quoi opère la gestion. Elle est le produit d’un exercice collectif de volonté envers la réalisation d’un objectif plus ou moins bien défini. Par contre, l’institution est le dépôt des normes qui proposent des règlements sur la manière dont les organisations devraient être gérées. Le gestionnaire est donc celui qui agit sur l’organisation, guidé par les institutions. Mais attention. Rien dans cette définition ne dit que ces institutions soient bien développées ou même adaptées à une société démocratique. Et le gestionnaire aura toujours la possibilité de désobéir aux normes qui lui sont communiquées par les institutions pertinentes à ses activités. Le manuel propose que l’éthique soit ce processus ou ce phénomène par lequel gestionnaire raisonne la part des choses entre ses propres activités et les attentes sociales qui l’entourent. Le manuel met en loupe des portraits historiques et contemporaines de la distribution des responsabilités collectives pour le bien-être des populations afin de rendre manifeste comment l’éthique est susceptible d’appuyer les entrepreneurs et administrateurs dans un monde aux nuances infinies. Les concepts pour problématiser les rapports existants entre organisations des secteurs public, privé et tiers y sont présentés et le manuel progresse au cours des chapitres vers l’élaboration d’un cadre de gouvernance où est négociée, voir optimisée, cette distribution des responsabilités pour le maintien des sociétés. Le manuel chemine selon des préoccupations de la gestion que sont la prise de décision, la culture et l’environnement organisationnel, les relations avec les parties prenantes, l’écologie, l’informatisation des sociétés, les partenariats d’affaires et le lobbying. Il conclut sur des considérations du rôle que peuvent jouer les gestionnaires éthiques dans la construction d’un monde meilleur.
The FinTech Explorer: A Comprehensive Guide to Case Studies, Course Notes, and Emerging Trends | Explorateur de projets FinTech : Un guide pratique pour études de cas, notes de cours, et nouvelles tendances
(2024) Qi, Qianru (Cheryl); Jaffer, Shaista; Ekponon, Adelphe
This resource brings together a collection of student-authored case studies that explore how emerging technologies—Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, and Big Data (ABCD)—can revolutionize the financial industry. Cette ressource rassemble une série d’études de cas rédigées par des étudiants qui explorent comment les technologies émergentes - Intelligence Artificielle, Blockchain, le Cloud Computing, et Big Data (ABCD) peuvent révolutionner le secteur financier.
Semantic Interoperability on Blockchain by Generating Smart Contracts Based on Knowledge Graphs
(2024-09-11) Van Woensel, William; Seneviratne, Oshani
Background: Health 3.0 allows decision making to be based on longitudinal data from multiple institutions, from across the patient's healthcare journey. In such a distributed setting, blockchain smart contracts can act as neutral intermediaries to implement trustworthy decision making. Objective: In a distributed setting, transmitted data will be structured using standards (such as HL7 FHIR) for semantic interoperability. In turn, the smart contract will require interoperability with this standard, implement a complex communication setup (e.g., using oracles), and be developed using blockchain languages (e.g., Solidity). We propose the encoding of smart contract logic using a high-level semantic Knowledge Graph, using concepts from the domain standard. We then deploy this semantic KG on blockchain. Methods: Off-chain, a code generation pipeline compiles the KG into a concrete smart contract, which is then deployed on-chain. Our pipeline targets an intermediary bridge representation, which can be transpiled into a specific blockchain language. Our choice avoids on-chain rule engines, with unpredictable and likely higher computational cost; it is thus in line with the economic rules of blockchain. Results: We applied our code generation approach to generate smart contracts for 3 health insurance cases from Medicare. We discuss the suitability of our approach - the need for a neutral intermediary - for a number of healthcare use cases. Our evaluation finds that the generated contracts perform well in terms of correctness and execution cost ("gas") on blockchain. Conclusions: We showed that it is feasible to automatically generate smart contract code based on a semantic KG, in a way that respects the economic rules of blockchain. Future work includes studying the use of Large Language Models (LLM) in our approach, and evaluations on other blockchains.
NLP4PBM: A Systematic Review on Process Extraction using Natural Language Processing with Rule-based, Machine and Deep Learning Methods
(2024-09-09) Van Woensel, William; Motie, Soroor
This literature review studies the field of automated process extraction, i.e., transforming textual descriptions into structured processes using Natural Language Processing (NLP). We found that Machine Learning (ML) / Deep Learning (DL) methods are being increasingly used for the NLP component. In some cases, they were chosen for their suitability towards process extraction, and results show that they can outperform classic rule-based methods. We also found a paucity of gold-standard, scalable annotated datasets, which currently hinders objective evaluations as well as the training or fine-tuning of ML / DL methods. Finally, we discuss preliminary work on the application of LLMs for automated process extraction, as well as promising developments in this field.
Operations of cost-effective charities: A qualitative study
(2024-04-26) Shevchenko, Anton; Hajmohammad, Sara; Pagell, Mark
People donate to charities with the aim of improving society. Yet, many charities fail to use donations efficiently or have ineffective interventions. We explore the strategic operational priorities and processes that enable charities to efficiently implement their interventions and have a positive impact on society. We first review the literature on charities to gain a deeper understanding of the current state of knowledge on charity operations. We then employ the lens of paradox theory and perform a qualitative investigation of six case studies to explore various aspects of the operations of charities that are known for being cost-effective. We reveal how the strategic operational decisions of charities, as well as the processes they implement, help them resolve the tensions arising from the cost-effectiveness paradox. We show that cost-effective charities make strategic operational decisions that help maintain two diverging priorities: prioritizing the status quo and prioritizing change in how they deliver value. Another set of strategic decisions helps balance these two diverging priorities. We then show how these charities create and then maintain cost-effective operations. We address recent calls for research on non-profit organizations in the field of operations management. To our knowledge, it is the first in-depth study of exemplary charity operations. The results can be used by charity executives as a benchmarking tool when they develop and implement their charitable interventions and by government agencies and potential donors when they select charities for their donations. Finally, the results should have implications for other organizations trying to have a positive societal impact.
Managing Supplier Sustainability Risk: An Experimental Study
(2024) Hajmohammad, Sara; Klassen, Robert D.; Vachon, Stephan
Buying firms are increasingly exposed to sustainability risk arising from negative conditions or potential events in their supply base that might provoke adverse stakeholder reactions. Procurement managers at these firms can pursue multiple strategies to address this risk with suppliers, including acceptance, monitoring-based mitigation, avoidance, and collaboration-based mitigation. This study aims to investigate how perceived risk, supplier dependence and financial slack resources contribute to the strategic preferences of these managers. A vignette-based experiment with procurement managers is used to examine the factors affecting the managers’ strategic preferences in managing supplier sustainability risk. The empirical results revealed that the procurement managers’ preference for avoidance or collaboration strategies was stronger when they perceived higher risk, but their preference varied based on the degree of supplier dependence. Specifically, when they perceived a high level of risk, procurement managers were more inclined toward a monitoring strategy with dependent suppliers and preferred an avoidance strategy when they dealt with independent ones. Financial slack was also an influential factor: managers with more slack at their disposal preferred to collaborate with suppliers to address the risk; on the other hand, limited slack shifted their preference toward an acceptance strategy, regardless of the level of risk. This study helps to develop a more nuanced picture of how procurement managers make challenging and complex trade-offs when responding to supplier sustainability risk.
Mitigating Sustainability Risk in Supplier Populations: An Agent-Based Simulation Study
(2020) Hajmohammad, Sara; Shevchenko, Anton
Many modern firms strive to become sustainable. To this end, they are required to improve not only their own environmental and social performance, but also the performance of their suppliers. Building on population ecology theory, we explore how buyers’ exposure to supplier sustainability risk and their subsequent risk management strategies at the buyer-supplier dyad level can lead to adherence to sustainability by the supplier populations. We rely on a bottom-up research design, in which the actions of buyers within buyer-supplier dyads lead to population-wide changes on the supplier side. Specifically, we use experimental data on managing sustainability risk to build an agent-based simulation model and assess the effect of evolutionary processes on the presence of sustainable/unsustainable business practices in the supplier population. Our findings suggest that buyers’ cumulative actions in managing sustainability risk do not necessarily result in effective population-wide improvements (i.e., at a high rate and to a high degree). For example, in high risk impact conditions, the buyer population is usually able to decrease the population-level risk in a long run, but they would need both power and resources for quickly achieving such improved outcomes. Importantly, this positive change, in most cases, is due to the fact that the buyer population selects out the suppliers with high probability of misconduct (i.e., decreased supplier population density). Drawing on the organizational population ecology theory, we explore when, to what degree, and how quickly the buyers’ cumulative efforts can lead to population-wide changes in the level of supplier sustainability risk, as well as the composition and density of supplier population. Methodologically, this paper is one of the first studies which use a combination of experimental data and agent-based modeling to offer more valuable insights on supply networks.
Addressing Supplier Sustainability Misconducts: Response Strategies to Nonmarket Stakeholder Contentions
(2021) Hajmohammad, Sara; Shevchenko, Anton; Vachon, Stephan
Firms are increasingly accountable for their suppliers’ social and environmental practices. Nonmarket stakeholders nowadays do not hesitate to confront buying firms for their suppliers’ misconducts by mobilizing demonstrations, social media campaigns, and boycotts. This paper aims to develop a typology of response strategies by targeted firms when they face such contentions and to empirically investigate why these strategies vary among those firms. Drawing on social movement and stakeholder salience theories, we develop a set of hypotheses linking our typology of four response strategies to three key contextual factors – nonmarket stakeholder salience, nonmarket stakeholder ideology, and the target firm reputation –and examine them using a vignette-based experiment methodology. The results suggest that nonmarket stakeholder salience significantly impacts the nature of response (reject or concede), whereas the nonmarket stakeholder ideology is significantly related to the intensity of response (trivial or vigorous). Interestingly, the firms’ reputation was found to have no significant effect on their response strategy when they faced stakeholder contentions. This paper adds both theoretical and methodological value to the existing literature. Theoretically, the study develops and tests a comprehensive typology of response strategies to nonmarket stakeholder contentions. Methodologically, this study is original in leveraging a vignette-based experiment that allows establishing causal factors of response strategies following a supplier sustainability misconduct.
Manuel ADM1770 - Application des technologies de l’information en gestion (version 2)
(2023) Mignerat, Muriel
Une introduction à l'utilisation des outils en technologie de l'information pour les processus opérationnels, stratégiques et tactiques ainsi que les prises de décision au sein des organisation
Digital Transformation in the EU
(2021) Cotte, Pierre
Presented at the 2nd Annual Digital in Government Conference - Ottawa (CA) - June 2021 Planning and organising a digital transformation within the EU, at governmental level, is challenging for a wide range or reasons: some are specific to the EU whereas the others are inherent traits of any digital transformation initiative. After a brief characterisation of the EU environment, and more specifically the Council of the European Union, the speaker will share his experiences on three major recent digital transformation initiatives where he is (or has been) directly involved, as programme manager, architect or digital transformation officer: •The ‘Council decision making Programme’ (CODEMAP), aiming at enhancing decision making within the Council of the EU; •The ‘Information and Knowledge management’ (IKM-) Programme, aiming at improving the user experience of the EU Member States delegates and the staff of the General Secretariat of the Council, while exchanging information and sharing knowledge on EU policy matters. •The “e-Justice” initiative aiming at promoting the digitalisation of the justice within the EU, along with the ‘e-CODEX’ programme that is the backbone network connecting the EU Member States and EU judiciary players and supporting the exchange of data on civil or criminal matters. The speaker will also briefly evoke the EU initiatives (‘Connecting Europe Facility’, ‘Digital Europe’, and the ‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’ recently adopted as a recovery plan for the EU) along with the EU laws (e.g. the General Data Protection Regulation, the Council Security regulation, the Open data directive or the ‘Digital agenda for Europe’) insofar as all these plans and pieces of legislation have (or will have) a huge impact on the digital transformations initiated at governmental level within the EU.
Toward better understanding developmental reflection differences for use in management development research and practice
(2020) Maurer, Todd; Dimotakis, Nikolaos; Hardt, Greg; Corner, A.J.
Purpose: We introduce a new approach to developmental reflection in which the focus is on differences in how people reflect. When reflecting on challenging experiences, people achieve better development when they tend to look for causes of what happened within changeable personal characteristics and they subsequently focus on improvement of those personal characteristics. Design/Methodology/Approach: Supervisors and subordinates with leadership responsibilities in diverse jobs in varied industries provided survey data (444 individuals in a psychometric testing sample, and 419 paired subordinate/supervisor dyads in a model-testing sample). Findings: The reflection difference construct had the expected factor structure, reliability, and was distinguishable from eight conceptually related variables in the literature. Reflection differences were predicted by theoretically-relevant job, person, and situational variables and were associated with development and performance outcomes. Research limitations/implications: Practical implications: The reflection construct might be used for prediction to identify which individuals are likely to get the most from challenging experiences and improve. Further, by identifying predictors of reflection, ideas for enhancing reflection are provided. Also, by uncovering specific underlying dimensionality of reflection, this offers specific targets for interventions beyond generally encouraging people to reflect. Social implications: Originality/value: This study establishes support for: a) the new theoretical framing of reflection differences, b) a new preliminary model of antecedents and outcomes, and c) an initial scale for future research and practice that can be more explicit about understanding and addressing underlying differences in how people reflect. Author Accepted Manuscript distributed under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 license. To use this version commercially contact permissions@emeraldinsights.com
Leadership and the Lens of a Profession
(2019) Miles, Edward; Corner, A.J.; Schatten, Jeff
In the Call for Book Chapters for this volume, the editor specifies that this book “is not the place for chapters on dominant social-psychology approaches to leadership….We very much respect those approaches, but we are looking for things that are radically different”. In a more generic sense, such a statement implies that we appreciate that a scientific approach to leadership has merit, but we also appreciate that non-scientific approaches (e.g., literature, humanities, history) have merit as well. Is there a vantage point from which to integrate scientific and nonscientific approaches to seeing the domain of leadership? In the phrasing of Vladimir Nabokov (2000), “Does there not exist a high ridge where the mountainside of ‘scientific knowledge’ joins the opposite slope of ‘artistic imagination’?” The purpose of this essay is to suggest that one potential vantage point to view leadership is through the lens of a “profession”. Many professionals draw upon both codified science and tacit knowledge in their work. For example, medical doctors draw upon sciences such as anatomy and pharmacology while also drawing upon more abstract, subjective knowledge. Can we consider “leaders” as professionals in order to join conceptually these two sides of the “ridge”?
Rebuilding with Ethics: Engaging with Global Issues during the Covid-19 Crisis
(2020) Riaz, Suhaib
The Covid-19 crisis is a time for action across all levels – from our most local communities to our global systems. But the immediacy of action has to be based on depth in our reflection. This virtual special issue is meant to provoke ethics-driven engagement with problems across the globe that confront us during this crisis and the underlying societal challenges that will endure beyond it.
Key competencies for big data analytics professions: a multimethod study
(2020) Persaud, Ajax
This study aims to identify the precise competencies that employers are seeking for big data analytics professions and whether higher education big data programs enable students to acquire the competencies. This study utilizes a multimethod approach involving three data sources: online job postings, executive interviews and big data programs at universities and colleges. Text mining analysis guided by a holistic competency theoretical framework was used to derive insights into the required competencies. We found that employers are seeking workers with strong functional and cognitive competencies in data analytics, computing and business combined with a range of social competencies and specific personality traits. The exact combination of competencies required varies with job levels and tasks. Executives clearly indicate that workers rarely possess the competencies and they have to provide additional training. The findings can be used by higher educational institutions to design programs to better meet market demand. Job seekers can use it to focus on the types of competencies they need to advance their careers. Policymakers can use it to focus policies and investments to alleviate skills shortages. Industry and universities can use it to strengthen their collaborations.
Dynamic multi-priority, multi-class patient scheduling with stochastic service times
(2019) Sauré, Antoine; Begen, Mehmet A.; Patrick, Jonathan
Efficient patient scheduling has significant operational, clinical and economical benefits on health care systems by not only increasing the timely access of patients to care but also reducing costs. However, patient scheduling is complex due to its stochastic nature, the existence of multiple stages of care, and the multiple interdependencies between these stages. Patient appointment (allocation) scheduling refers to the assignment of specific appointment start times to a set of patients scheduled for a particular day while advance patient scheduling refers to the assignment of future appointment days to patients. These two problems have generally been addressed separately despite each being highly dependent on the form of the other. This paper develops a framework that seeks to bridge the two problems. It incorporates random arrivals with multiple patient types and priorities as well as random appointment durations. We take into account the waiting time until the day of service as well as the idle time and overtime of medical resources on the day of service. We use approximate dynamic programming and determine advance schedules with stochastic appointment durations. We first extend the current literature by providing theoretical and numerical results for the case with multi-class, multi-priority patients and deterministic service times. We then adapt the model to incorporate stochastic service times and perform a comprehensive numerical analysis on a number of scenarios. We compare policies obtained from our models against benchmark policies used in practice. In addition, we present results based on a medium-size clinic in Ontario, Canada.
Job Offer Negotiations: A Focused Research Approach
(2017) Chapman, Elizabeth; Corner, A.J.; Miles, Edward
Researchers and employers are typically united in their beliefs that human capital is critical to organizational success and that effective hiring is vitally important. Acquiring and keeping talented employees often requires engaging in negotiation of compensation and of terms of job offers. However, the academic negotiation literature has focused very little on compensation and job offer negotiations. In an attempt to provide guidance for such empirical research, we (a) summarize what is currently known through empirical evidence about job offer and compensation negotiations, and (b) present a research strategy to guide empirical investigations of compensation and job offer negotiations.
Big Data Analytics: Accelerating Innovation and Value Creation
(2017) Persaud, Ajax; Schillo, Sandra
In this report, we synthesize the literature on five interrelated themes to determine the state of knowledge, and possible gaps, regarding the key factors that facilitate or inhibit an organization’s ability to harness the value of big data. The themes are (1) the prerequisites for successful deployment of big data analytics, (2) the mix of knowledge, skills and capabilities for careers in big data analytics, (3) the application of big data analytics for creativity, innovation, and value creation, (4) the challenges in harnessing value from big data initiatives, and (5) the role of government policies in advancing big data analytics in the economy.
Current Weight Management Approaches Used by Primary Care Providers in Six Multidisciplinary Healthcare Settings in Ontario
(2018) Aboueid, Stephanie; Jasinska, Monika; Bourgeault, Ivy; Giroux, Isabelle
Background Obesity management in primary care has been suboptimal due to lack of access to allied health professionals, time, and resources. Purpose To understand the weight management approaches used by primary care providers working in team-based settings and how they assess the most suitable approach for a patient. Methods A total of 20 primary care providers (13 nurse practitioners and 7 family physicians) working in 6 multidisciplinary clinics in Ontario were interviewed. All interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using NVivo qualitative software. Conventional content analysis was used to inductively elucidate codes, which were then clustered into categories. Results A referral to on-site programming was the most frequent weight management approach used. The pharmacological approach was underutilized due to adverse side effects and cost to patients. Primary care providers assessed the most suitable weight management approach based on patients': preference, level of motivation, income status and access to resources, body mass index and comorbidities, and previous weight loss attempts. Primary care providers perceived that referring to health professionals and educational resources were the approaches preferred by patients. Conclusions The team-based nature of these clinics allowed for referrals to various on-site professionals and/or programs. Some barriers to pursuing weight management avenues with patients were patient dependent.
The Nexus of Transformational Leadership of Emergency Services Systems: Extending the Wu-Shi-Ren (WSR)-Li Paradigms
(2015-11-12) Caro, Denis H. J.
Purpose: In the face of diverse national and international threats, this study explores the leadership challenges in emergency services systems in Canada. These adaptive complex systems respond to critical events that range from small scale to mass emergencies, disasters and catastrophes. This leadership study examines the requisite competencies and skill sets of emergency services systems. Design/Methodology: This qualitative research study uses grounded theory to examine the phenomenology of emergency services leadership. Through triangulation, the theoretical paradigm of the Wu-Shi-Ren (WSR)-Li model, authentic transformational leadership emerged as relevant to this domain. This key informant study of 103 professionals from 81 organizations focused on the leadership challenges of emergency services systems. The response rate was 83.5 percent, using a semi-structured and open-ended questionnaire. Findings: This study underscores the competencies and skills essential for authentic transformational leadership in emergency services systems. With the WSR-Li model as a base, it explores a dimension that is unique to emergency leadership in nations with strong public governance values. It extends the model to include a transgenic dimension, which is important in nations with cogent public governance values. Practical implications: This study underscores the importance of relational capital and transformational leadership of emergency services systems nationally and internationally. Social implications: This study stresses the importance of transformational leadership of emergency services as instrumental in saving lives, minimizing injuries and assuring complete health and social recovery nationally and globally. Originality: Qualitative studies of the perspectives of emergency leadership has not hitherto been done in Canada, nor internationally. This study underscores the relevance of the WSR-Li model in discerning specific authentic transformational leadership attributes that are unique in emergency services systems.

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