Erasmus University Thesis Repository
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The influence of the factors of similarity bias on a VC firm’s decision to invest in a start-up
No full textMore Than Good Deeds: The Impact of CSR Perceptions and Perceived CEO Religiousness on Job Pursuit Intention
No full textApplication of Effectuation Principles by Student Entrepreneurs in New Venture Development and the Ventures’ Evolutionary Comparison Study
No full textCross-Industry Comparison of Generative AI Implementation Criteria Using the Technology Acceptance Model
No full textA Study on the Influence of Board Foreignness and Cultural Distance on the Selection of a Foreign CEO
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The Dutch shipbuilding decline and science: Why MARIN survived.
No full textMaritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) is an internationally renowned maritime institute that finds itself at the cutting edge of maritime expertise. From the 1960s to the 1980s Shipbuilding would shift away from Europe to countries in Asia with lower wages. In the Netherlands this led to a shrinkage in the shipbuilding sector of about 60%. At the same time the 1970s and 1980s would be a bad time for shipbuilding in general as the 1973 oil crisis would be followed by the 1980s oil glut. This raises the question of why MARIN survived all this turmoil? This question was answered by gathering data from MARIN's annual reports and other sources like newspapers to establish three key facts: Firstly in how much trouble MARIN really was, secondly how reliant MARIN was on income from Dutch sources and lastly what core competence the institute built up to face the new market. The coming hardships where not apparent to MARIN's executives in 1968 when they decided to build a large and expensive new testing facility in Ede called the vacuum tank. The vacuum tank, while certainly pushing MARIN's technical and scientific pedigree of Ship powering forwards, did provide the revenue was hoped for. Unable to generate the profits needed to pay back its loans MARIN started making heavy losses. These losses where however not due to the Dutch shipbuilding collapse, but instead due to a general malaise in the shipbuilding sector combined with strong foreign competition. MARIN's core competence in Ship powering and Ocean engineering allowed it to tap into relatively healthy segments of the Dutch shipbuilding market when it needed to. After a looming bankruptcy the Dutch government provided emergency relief and set up the CRONSP to provide a long term solution. This would result in MARIN merging with the NMI and receiving an annual subsidy. MARIN's situation was still not sustainable in the long term, but this annual subsidy combined with government loans ensured MARIN's survival for now. The subsidies MARIN would have needed to reach sustainability were significantly less than some of its fellow GTI's were receiving. This means that while MARIN relied on government funding for survival, this amount was less than expected for a public institute of its size
Womanhood on the Spectrum - Self Representation of Autistic Women on TikTok
No full textAutistic women have previously faced significant erasure, cultural misrepresentation and exclusion from broader medical and social autism discourses which have remained male centric. This thesis explored how autistic women navigated these forms of marginalizations through practices of self representation through social media posts on TikTok, a predominantly visual and algorithmically functioning social media platform. Using multimodal thematic analysis of 122 posts with 92 image based posts and 30 video based posts, this research explored how self representational practices of autistic women take form in response to diagnostic erasure, intersectional invisibility and the platform's affordances.
The research was guided by theories of representation by Hall (1997), intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989), identity performance by Goffman (1959) and social media affordance theories led primarily by Treem and Leonardi (2013). The thematic analysis followed a multimodal structure where audial, visual, text based, hashtag based and other affordances were taken into account while formulating analyses. Some affordances that guided the process were visibility as a high level affordance centering the analysis of platform logics supported by editability and searchability as low level affordances and the related concepts of imagined affordances and the algorithmized self.
The findings revealed how the narratives of self representation took diverse forms like distinguishing the autistic femininity, a focus on educational and humorous content and the use of advocacy as a representational practice. Visibility and vulnerability were closely tied with the engagement of affordances. Prominent inductive themes emerging from the dataset included the struggles of being misrecognized in earlier life, the reclamation of identity through resolving childhood memories of masking autistic traits, and subversion of stereotypes through humor, irony and memes. Affordances added the nuance of platform logics directing and aiding the narratives to take form, be interacted with on both an interpersonal and an intrapersonal level on the platform while consequences of affordances included community building, validation of identity and exploration of the authentic self
POST-COMMUNIST ALBANIA: THE ROLE OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS IN DRIVING ECONOMIC GROWTH
No full textThis thesis explores the evolving role of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in shaping Albania's post-communist economic development since the early 1990s. As the country transitioned from a centrally planned system to a market economy, FDI emerged as a key force behind structural reforms, economic revitalization, and Albania's growing integration into global markets. The study investigates how foreign investment has influenced the broader development trajectory, particularly in terms of economic growth, institutional change, and modernization. Drawing on both quantitative analysis and policy interpretation, it reflects on the uneven distribution of benefits across sectors and regions, as well as the ongoing tension between dependence on external capital and domestic economic autonomy. By situating Albania within the wider Western Balkan context, the research highlights the importance of long-term strategic planning to ensure that FDI contributes not only to growth but also to social equity and sustainable development
Phygital Politics
No full textWe are in an age where taking a political stance as a business is increasingly observed and contested. This thesis explores how consumers react to corporate political stances and engage with boycotts across digital and offline realms, conceptualized as phygital politics. Through a qualitative research design combining narrative and thematic analysis, this study explores how individuals construct and narrate their participation in boycotts, and how identity, motivation, and perceived authenticity shape these engagements. The Social Identity Theory (SIT), guided the findings, revealing five core themes: consumer boycott typologies, motivational and emotional drivers, perceptions of brand activism, phygital participation dynamics, and storytelling as a tool for identity and meaning making. Participants were labeled as initiators, late adopters, or armchair boycotters, each reflecting different levels of moral conviction, social pressure, and performativity. The study found a feedback loop between online mobilization and offline behavior, showing how digital visibility often catalyzes real-world consumption changes and vice versa. Motivations are shown to evolve over time, flowing between ethical commitments, group belonging, identity signaling, and practical trade-offs. The effectiveness of boycotts, as perceived by consumers, is linked to brand authenticity and emotional resonance, rather than purely rational calculations. Overall, the act of boycotting is found to be not only a political act but a narrative one where consumers negotiate values, express identity, and assert belonging in a media-saturated, polarized marketplace. This research adds to the literature on political consumerism by combining digital activism and offline behavior, offering theoretical insights and practical implications for brands navigating sociopolitical discourse in the digital era. However, the study is limited by its small, Western-centric sample and reliance on self-reported data, which may not fully capture actual boycotting behavior. Additionally, the focus on digital activism risks overshadowing offline, community-based forms of resistance, potentially narrowing the scope of the findings