Anil Berkin

• Tuesday 16 April 2024 at 4:30 p.m.
• Supervisors: Walter Aerts & Tom Van Caneghem
  
• The defence will take place at the F. de Tassiszaal, Hof van Liere, University of Antwerp, City Campus, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerp
  
• Please contact Anil Berkin (anil.berkin@uantwerpen.be) to inform him whether you wish to attend the PhD defence before Friday 12 April 2024.
  

Corporate narratives and textual analysis: Perspectives on top management’s language use in financial and sustainability reporting

The dissertation investigates top management’s language use in financial and sustainability reporting, offering insightful perspectives and methodological innovations. It delves into differences in language use in distinct disclosure genres influenced by audience projection and communicative purpose, and the role of visibility in rhetorical impression management in sustainability reporting. By exploring these dimensions, the dissertation sheds light on how companies navigate communication challenges, adapt to regional level institutional settings and employ strategic approaches to shape perceptions and manage stakeholder relationships.
Furthermore, the dissertation introduces feasibility of employing machine learning methods for attributional content and framing analysis in corporate reporting, highlighting the potential in enhancing narrative disclosure analysis. Collectively, these findings contribute to a deeper understanding of corporate communication practices and pave the way for future research endeavors in the field.

Spiros Gkousis

• Wednesday 15 May 2024 at 4.30 pm
• Supervisors: Tine Compernolle & Kris Welkenhuysen
  
• The defence will take place at the Promotion Room, Grauwzusters Cloister,
  University of Antwerp, Stadscampus,
  Lange Sint-Annastraat 7, 2000 Antwerp
  
• Please contact Spiros Gkousis (spiros.gkousis@uantwerpen.be) to inform her whether you wish to attend the PhD defence before Monday 13 May 2024

Analysis of deep geothermal energy development under uncertainty: An integrated geo-techno-economic and environmental assessment

This dissertation examines the economic and environmental sustainability of deep geothermal heating investments in Northern Belgium. It follows a comprehensive approach by integrating life cycle assessment, techno-economic assessment, and real options analysis to explore the economic and environmental performance of deep geothermal heating investments under uncertainty. The dissertation provides significant insights on the economic and environmental feasibility of exploiting deep geothermal energy in Northern Belgium. It also highlights ways to improve the performance of the investment. This study contributes to the better understanding of the sustainability of deep geothermal heating investments and the strategies that can improve their performance. It also presents novel methodological frameworks that can be adopted for investigating and assessing the sustainability of other systems and technologies.

Dima Braiteh

• Tuesday 19 March 2024 at 9.30 am
  
• Supervisor: Ans De Vos
  
  

Navigating Through Turbulence: Investigating Individual Characteristics, Well-being, and Career Outcomes in the Face of Career Shocks

Our thesis delved into the complex landscape of career changes, introducing the 'Career Shock' concept. This term encapsulates significant, unexpected events triggered by external factors, prompting individuals to reevaluate their career trajectories. At the heart of our investigation is an in-depth analysis of how unforeseen changes affect individual well-being and career outcomes. We emphasize the crucial role of personal characteristics and resources in navigating these shocks, with adaptability as a central element in our analytical framework.
Initially, our research explored the impact of individual traits, extending beyond the Big Five personality dimensions, on the capacity to adapt to abrupt changes. We focused specifically on the contributions of self-monitoring and self-efficacy to adaptability, aiming to expand the existing discourse on personal adaptability in the face of change.
The study then narrows its scope to assess the effects of career shocks on individual well-being, particularly highlighting the context of an economic-financial crisis in the banking sector. This section elucidates career shocks' positive and negative impacts, further examining how personal characteristics moderate the effect on well-being.
In the final phase, our investigation deepened to assess the effect of negative career shocks on specific career outcomes, such as engagement and the experience of regret. This study transitioned the focus from individual adaptability to career adaptability, endeavoring to elucidate the mediating function of career adaptability in the interplay between career shocks and the respective career outcomes.
Conclusively, our thesis sought to illuminate career development in times of instability, proposing strategies for individuals confronted with career shocks and adapting to evolving contexts. It underscored the practical significance for both practitioners and scholars, delineating methods to foster adaptability and engagement amidst career shocks, thereby making a substantial contribution to the domains of organizational and career studies.

Mohammadsaeid Fallahniasar

• Thursday 14 March 2024 at 12:30 p.m.
  
• Supervisors: Kenneth Sörensen & Seyed Mehdi Sajadifar
  
  

Metaheuristics for the school bus routing problem

This thesis focusses on a special part of the supply chain that is relevant to the student transportation problem. Considering previous studies, it appears that addressing emergent issues such as increased traffic load, high student population, lack of resources, safety, and risks can play a substantial role in designing an efficient plan for the student transportation system. The significance of this issue is highlighted when we take into account the needs and expectations of all stakeholders, including students, the private sector, and municipalities. In this regard, this dissertation considers a number of realistic and innovative characteristics for the school bus routing problem (SBRP). In doing so, two main trajectories have been followed. First, the existing gap and concerns in the literature and real life are considered to extract a new model-based variant of SBRP characteristics.
Second, an attempt is made to construct proper metaheuristic algorithms (solution approaches) to efficiently solve the problems identified in the first phase. To put it more clearly, in the first trajectory, we consider different problem features and propose new model and problem for SBRP, and in the second trajectory, we design and construct a metaheuristic approach germane to the defined problem. To do so, there are challenges that must be addressed concerning how to design an appropriate metaheuristic that corresponds to the specific type of problem and makes a trade-off between computing time and solution quality as well as a trade-off between intensification and diversification.
Following the above phases entails two advantages. It helps the decision-maker in urban planning to adopt the right course of action and presents alternatives in choosing the appropriate solution approach. In the first and second chapters of this thesis, the existing school bus routing problems along with different kinds of solution approaches are discussed, while in chapters three to five a new model and, correspondingly, new metaheuristics are presented. In other words, the first two chapters we present new solution approaches for the existing current problem, and in the remaining chapters we explore and attempt at a new model as well as solution approaches.
Briefly, regarding the solution approach, we have considered the strategic oscillation (searching between feasible and infeasible parts of the solution space), different large neighborhood search algorithms (presenting different kinds of removal and insertion heuristics), neighborhood selection mechanisms, and a number of diversification strategies.
We have also developed new mathematical models for SBRP that consider mixed-load effect, transporting morning and afternoon students, and the existing risks of student transportation. Further analyses are also executed to address real life concerns.

Tyché Perkisas

• Friday 16 February 2024 at 4.00 pm
• Supervisors: Johan Braet & Wim Mees
  

On dedicated anti-cybercrime mailboxes within financial institutions

The world is currently living in the Information Age. Technological advances driving digitalization and digitization have been adopted by the larger part of society and have been progressively becoming the norm. This adoption process was further accelerated by the strings of lock-downs and quarantines, which pushed this technology from accepted to - in some cases - necessary. However, as with all new technology, there will be those that exploit it to enrich themselves illegally. The global annual costs caused by cybercrime have been on the rise for years, reaching over $ 6 trillion USD at the end of 2023. Institutions providing critical infrastructure therefore need to mitigate the risks of providing their services within this technological framework, both for themselves as well as for their clients. One such mitigation is the use of a dedicated anti-cybercrime mailbox: a single point of contact for both internal as external parties for all matters cybercrime related.
This work considers the content of a such a dedicated anti-cybercrime mailbox (DACM) within a Belgian financial institution. Its aim is the prioritization of the service requests, both internal and external, that reach this mailbox in order to reduce the damages caused by illegitimate e-mails. This prioritization is based on predicted damage potential, for which we provide a model. This dissertation outlines a methodology to characterize and quantify the evolution of such a DACM. We conclude the DACM has a unique composition and can be clustered into distinct e-mail types for which a prioritization can be proposed based on their characteristics and content.

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Maysam Ayoub

• Friday 19 January 2024 4.00 pm
• Supervisor:  Kris Hardies
  

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The Role of Audit Firm Network Complexity, Audit Offices, and Partners In Explaining Audit Outcomes 

The dissertation comprises three distinct empirical studies investigating the influence of audit firms, offices, and partners on audit outcomes. Based on data from sixteen European countries, I examine if audit firms can maintain consistency across their engagements, that is, across the offices and partners within their network.
In the first study, I examine if financial statement comparability is greater if clients have the same audit firm and if this relationship is moderated by audit firm network complexity – which depends on audit firm’s size and geographic dispersion. In the second study, I explore if financial reporting quality is affected by within-firm office changes and if audit firms’ geographic dispersion moderates this relationship. In the third study, I examine the relative importance of audit partners vis-à-vis audit offices and firms in explaining audit outcomes.
Overall, the results of these three studies provide much weaker evidence than prior research on the effects of audit firms, offices, and partners on audit outcomes such as financial statement comparability, financial reporting quality, and auditors’ going concern reporting.  

Stéphanie Verlinden

• Wednesday 17 January 2024 4.00 pm
• Supervisor: Jan Wynen,  Koen Verhoest & Bjorn Kleizen

Does repeated change paradoxically undermine organizational adaptability? Essays on the impact of repeated organizational change on public organizations' capacity to adapt.

Climate change, globalized terrorism, disruptive technologies, and the COVID-19 pandemic have presented governments with unprecedented, fast-evolving challenges requiring rapid response and adaptation. Consequently, public organizations have been implementing changes at an increasing pace as they attempt to keep up. At the same time, civil servants must develop new skills centered on adaptability and flexibility. However, evidence from the field suggests that civil servants find it increasingly difficult to cope with a highly turbulent work environment in which change is nearly constant. Many are feeling overwhelmed by too many organizational changes occurring in a row. While public organizations often implement changes in pursuit of more adaptability, the question thus arises whether repeated change paradoxically undermines their capacity to adapt. 

This dissertation seeks to answer this question by examining the effects of repeated change – as it is perceived by civil servants- on their levels of role clarity, autonomy, and proactive behavior at work. In doing so, this research examines whether there is evidence of a threat-rigidity response, characterized by a constriction of control and restriction in information processing.  

Results show that the more changes civil servants experienced, the less clear they were about their role at work, the less individual autonomy they perceived, and the less proactively they behaved at work. These results offer empirical support for the cognitive and behavioral inflexibility characteristic of a threat-rigidity response. Finding that repeated change causes civil servants to respond with rigidity rather than the required flexibility; this dissertation concludes that repeated change paradoxically undermines public organizations’ capacity to adapt. In addition, the finding that chronic stress in civil servants distorts their perceptions of the frequency of change offers important implications for public sector change management. It indicates that change management strategies based on objective accounts of change may be tailored to a reality that does not align with the reality of change as civil servants experience it.