Theses defended

Theses defended

Title: “Open the black box”: regulatory approaches to the religious phenomenon in work and organisational justice.

Author: Hugo Gaillard

Thesis supervision: Prof. Thierry Jolivet

Date of defence: 3 December 2019

Summary: Subject - The religious phenomenon is an emerging research subject in French-language research. This thesis looks at the perceptions of organisational justice of the regulatory approaches taken by four French organisations. Methodology - For this analysis, and using a qualitative approach, we have conducted semi-structured interviews, observation periods and a documentary analysis within four structures. This is an embedded multiple-case study. Results - The sharing and clarity of approaches appear essential, as do the internal and external consistency of regulatory actions, the neutrality of the decision-maker and the compliance of the approach with respect to the law. External religious symbols (crucifix, hijab, etc.) give rise to perceptions of injustice when they are regulated using criteria that are not based on work. The religious factor should not be a reason either for discrimination or for special treatment in terms of allocation of resources (time, work, etc.). Managerial implications - A neutral approach which is centred around work, respectful of the law and without value judgments on individual practices, promotes the dissemination of a climate of justice. Originality - This work addresses areas that have been little studied up to the present time, responds to a call from the literature to address the subject from the perspective of justice and makes it possible to reconcile the study of individual perceptions with the imperative of the operation of the business.

Title: From the traditional artisan to the artisan brand: cognitive, affective and behavioural perceptions and reactions of the consumer in relation to the artisan

Author: Jonathan Dezecot

Thesis supervision: Prof. Nathalie Fleck

Date of defence: 25 November 2019

Summary: Long considered to be focused only on their profession and their production, artisans have today demonstrated their openness to their surroundings and their capacity for developing their activities and their brands in the eyes of consumers. The objective of this research is therefore to determine whether the development of the artisan's activity, through a process of brand development and marketing actions, is causing him to lose that which constitutes the essence of the artisan and his values in the eyes of consumers. A review of the literature and a series of qualitative studies (focus group, semi-structured interviews, ZMET approach) help us to better understand what an artisan means from the point of view of consumers, to better understand the obstacles and incentives in relation to him and to bring out the concept of the artisan brand. Additionally, a series of experiments was carried out to measure the impact of the personification and of the marketing orientation of the name of the artisan's shop on the reactions of consumers. The results show the mediating role of the friendly character and the perceived skills of the artisan, as well as of the identification of the consumer with the shop and with the artisan. Finally, a final experiment testing different scenarios for the development of the artisan's activity highlights the positive reactions in relation to the creation of an artisan brand, its marketing direction but a wariness about increasing the scale of his activity.

Title: Gender diversity on boards of directors and the quality of financial statements: the role of the attributes of women directors

Author: Ammar Ali Gull

Thesis supervision: Prof. Mehdi Nekhili

Date of defence: 20 June 2018

Summary: This thesis proposes to study to what extent gender diversity on boards of directors influences the quality of financial statements. Specifically, this thesis explores the relationship between gender-diverse boards and the quality of financial statements by highlighting the influence of female directors’ attributes on the quality of financial statements. This thesis focuses on a large sample of French companies listed on the Euronext Paris CAC-All shares index between 2001 and 2010. After controlling for endogeneity and other specific factors relating to boards, companies and industries, our results show that gender diversity on boards of directors is associated in a positive way with the quality of the financial statements. Furthermore, our findings demonstrate the significant influence of the attributes of female directors on the relationship between gender-diverse boards and the quality of financial statements. More specifically, with regard to these attributes, we found that membership of the audit committee, financial expertise and the experience of women have a significant and positive impact on the quality of financial statements. Taken together, these results indicate the importance of the skills on boards of directors that are gender-diverse and show the relevance of the attributes of female directors in ensuring the quality of financial statements.

Title: Characteristics of the audit committee, extent of reporting on internal control and audit fees

Author: Inès Maraghni

Thesis supervision: Prof. Mehdi Nekhili

Date of defence: 20 February 2017

Summary: The thesis explores the question of the effectiveness of audit committees in France: are audit committees actually effective in fulfilling their role? The issue of the effectiveness of these committees in the corporate governance evaluation process remains important in the French context, where the texts (particularly the recommendations of the 8th European Directive) continue to lack clarity. The first part sets out the effectiveness criteria and the general operation of audit committees based on a review of the literature and an empirical study using secondary data. We take an in-depth look at the key determinants of audit committee diligence. This problem is examined in the context of an agency relationship and of information asymmetry. Our study therefore looks beyond the simple existence of the audit committee (purely formal), and looks more closely at the capacity of these committees to protect the interests of stakeholders effectively by improving the quality of the internal control and of the external audit process.

Title: Qualitative study of the extent of interprofessional collaborations and of their interdependence: the case of healthcare teams in the Mongi-Slim University Health Centre

Author: Maroua Ben Maaouia

Thesis supervision: Prof. Thierry Jolivet

Date of defence: 26 April 2016

Summary: Collaborative working is a considerable challenge for health organisations, and particularly for public hospitals. The complexity of the structures, the plurality of the parties involved and the variability of the medical practices are an argument in favour of collaborative working. In such a context, it is appropriate to look at the extent of interprofessional collaboration allowing uniformity in medical activity. This concept takes on particular importance when one considers that the delivery of healthcare services increasingly calls for a high degree of coordination between the various professionals. This research work analyses the actual implementation of interprofessional collaboration in the case of a university hospital, using a qualitative methodology. Based on the pioneering work of D'Amour (1997), this thesis identifies the main dimensions of interprofessional collaboration as well as their interdependent relationship.

Title: Skills management as a strategy for productivity: the production challenge in the passion fruit sector in the Département of Huila

Author: Hernando Gil Tovar

Thesis supervision: Prof. Thierry Jolivet

Date of defence: 30 November 2015

Summary: The competitiveness agreement of the productive fruit chain of the Department of Huila has prioritised passion fruit as a productive stake. The passion fruit sector is characterised by the dispersion of the planted areas without specialisation and as a supplement to the revenues from the main productive activity. The main objective of this research was to determine the professional skills of the producer of passion fruit in the département of Huila and its relationship with the regional competitiveness plan. For this we have identified the current state of labour skills, established the link between the labour skills and the competitiveness plan for the sector and checked whether the levels of labour skills of the producer strengthen the productivity of the sector. The research method is positivist, the mode of reasoning is abduction, the research process is hybrid exploration, the methodological approach is mixed and the strategy of access to reality is the case study. This research, in general, assesses the labour skills of the producers of passion fruit in the département of Huila and establishes the relationships between them and the regional competitiveness plan. The results of the research show us a passion fruit producer with a low level of education, manual labour, little use of technology, low associativity and waiting for support from the official agencies and leaders of industry.