Vlerick Repository
The Vlerick Repository is a searchable open-access publication database, containing the complete archive of research output written by Vlerick Business School faculty and researchers.
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Item Unlocking Potential: Personal Growth at Work Explored(Academy of Management, 2024-08)Supporting employee growth is increasingly critical for organizations in the new world of work. Employees who experience growth are not only less likely to leave, but are also more likely to perform at their best (DeCarbo, 2023). Yet, a fragmented literature on growth at work limits our understanding of how employee growth is achieved and its impact on employees and organizations. This symposium brings together outstanding junior and senior academics who will present novel research insights on employee growth. Specifically, the set of papers included in the symposium explore how employees achieve growth from a number of perspectives, considering the mindsets, behaviors, and sensemaking that positively contribute to growth. Moreover, these papers, and the planned discussion, explore how each of these perspectives may learn and contribute to each other to form a more coherent perspective on growth and how it is achieved in organizations.Item Integrating Forecasting and Inventory Decisions Using Machine Learning(Emerald, 2025)Can inventory ordering decisions be improved by integrating forecasting and inventory decisions using machine learning? That is the question addressed in this study of three large Belgian companies in the food industry. Van der Haar, Sagaert, and Boute investigate the performance of methods that predict optimal order quantities directly, instead of !rst forecasting and then calculating optimal inventory quantities. Their results show that using an integrated approach can lead to substantial cost savings for smoother time series, yet the opposite holds when applying it to erratic and lumpy time series.Item Conflict management 101: how emotional intelligence can make or break a manager(Emerald, 2025)Purpose Previous research suggests that emotional intelligence (EI) may benefit managers when resolving conflicts. However, past studies relied on self-reports of EI and conflict management styles, and a theoretical model explaining the mechanisms of the link between EI and conflict management outcomes for managers is still missing. This study aims to test a theoretical model proposing that during conflicts, managers with higher performance-based ability EI are perceived as warmer and more competent, which in turn contributes to higher conflict management effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach A total of 108 Executive MBA students with managerial experience completed a performance-based EI test designed for the workplace and engaged in a conflict management exercise during which they were videotaped. In the exercise, managers spontaneously responded to video-based vignettes in which “employees” addressed them regarding a work-related conflict (e.g. a disagreement regarding tasks and working hours). Independent observers ( n = 262) rated the managers’ videotaped responses on items tapping warmth, competence and conflict management effectiveness. Findings Managers with higher performance-based EI (in particular, emotion regulation in oneself and emotion management in others) received higher observer ratings on warmth, competence and conflict management effectiveness. Warmth and competence fully mediated the link between EI and effectiveness. Originality/value These results demonstrate that managers’ performance-based EI translates into actual work-related behaviors and outcomes. Implications for training EI and effective conflict management are discussed.Item The Adoption of MBA Programs in Germany: An Institutional Perspective(Academy of Management, 2023)This study examines the adoption of MBA programs by higher education institutions in Germany. Using arguments from neo-institutional theory and imprinting theory, we propose that private ownership, mimetic processes, and founding period are likely to impact MBA adoption. In an empirical analysis of 86 German universities over the period 1999–2015, we show that private universities are more likely to offer MBA programs. For public universities, we find that prior adoption by other universities and an early foundation period (prior to World War II) positively influence MBA adoption. Interaction analyses show that the positive impact of prior adoption by other universities is attenuated by organizational status and augmented by the regional density of academic institutions. Our findings thus elucidate the major role of institutional factors for the diffusion of MBA programs among German universities.