Research Roundup: November 2023

Clean Hydrogen Poised to Go Mainstream

As the world seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, many scientists are exploring the potential of green hydrogen to decarbonize industries such as transportation and manufacturing. Some experts predict that green hydrogen could eventually provide an efficient way to store and transport renewable energy.

Adoption of hydrogen technologies has been slow so far—but that soon could change, say three researchers from the University of Mannheim in Germany. Governments worldwide are increasing their incentives and subsidies to encourage the uptake of hydrogen. At the same time, more industries are recognizing the technology’s potential, and the technology itself is becoming more efficient.

These factors could lead to a surge in the use of hydrogen, says Gunther Glenk, assistant professor at the University of Mannheim, as well as Climate Fellow at Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Glenk recently co-authored a study on this topic with Philip Holler, a doctoral student, and Stefan Reichelstein, endowed chair of business administration, also of Mannheim. Their study recently appeared in the journal Energy & Environmental Science.

Glenk, Holler, and Reichelstein analyzed data related to installed power-to-gas systems to estimate the rate of growth for different clean hydrogen technologies. They found that “the life-cycle cost of electrolytic hydrogen production is projected to fall in the range of 1.6 to 1.9 USD per kilogram by 2030.” This represents a decline from the 3 USD to 5 USD per kilogram that hydrogen production costs today. It is “approaching but not reaching the 1 USD per kilogram cost target set by the U.S. Department of Energy” (DoE) as part of that department’s Hydrogen Shot initiative.

This finding could address investors’ concerns that the DoE target is unrealistic, says Glenk in an article on the university’s website. “Once you have deployment in place, you can get cost reductions. With cost reduction, there’s more deployment because more applications become financially attractive, which then leads again to more deployment and cost reduction,” he says. “It’s a virtuous cycle that can change the game.”

Selective GME Programs See Fewer Applications

Over the past year, total applications to graduate business school programs worldwide declined by an average 5 percent. That’s according to the 2023 Applications Trends Survey conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). This year’s survey is based on 893 responses, representing 247 business schools in 32 countries.

The decline in applications centered primarily on more selective and traditional in-person programs. Moderately selective programs and those offering more flexible delivery formats reported increased application numbers.

Prospective students demonstrated greater preference for online, hybrid, weekend, and evening delivery, but online master’s programs saw less growth than hybrid, evening, or even full-time programs.

These results suggest that prospective students demonstrated greater preference for graduate management education (GME) programs that offer online, hybrid, weekend, and evening delivery. But application numbers fluctuated in these categories. “Online business master’s programs did not garner as much application growth as their hybrid, evening, or even full-time counterparts,” according to GMAC’s report. “Likewise, applications to full-time in-person U.S. programs grew about as much as more flexible options.”

The most pronounced increase occurred among lower-ranked and unranked programs. Competitive programs that had added flexible options to their portfolios “reported more declines than growth.”

Among other survey findings:

• Programs in Europe reported a 13 percent decrease in international applications.
• Programs in Asia and the Pacific Islands saw an 8 percent decline in total domestic applications.
• More U.S. programs reported growth in the number of domestic applications than those reporting declines.
• Prospective first-generation students made up 31 percent of those in the GME pipeline but only 13 percent of this year’s total applicant pool. In the U.S., however, applications from underrepresented populations topped pre-pandemic levels.
• Applications from women remained stagnant across degree types and geographical regions, with the sole exception of Master of Accounting programs, where women were the majority of applicants.

To appeal to broader audiences, many individual programs reported that they are expanding their master’s offerings to include traditional disciplines such as finance/accounting and supply chain management and emerging areas such as business analytics. Some also are launching new certificates, concentrations, microcredentials, and executive education options to meet the needs of lifelong learners and other nontraditional students.

That applicants want “to retain the flexibility afforded to them during the pandemic” might be the biggest takeaway from this year’s survey, according to GMAC. “While programs with low acceptance rates continue to garner high levels of applications, many candidates now appear to be more interested in flexible study options than program prestige.”

How Do Company Mergers Affect Innovation?

Some economists have argued that company mergers eliminate competition from the market, and in turn, damper innovation. But under at least two conditions, mergers might actually increase investment in innovation, argues Arijit Mukherjee, a professor of industrial economics at Nottingham University Business School in the United Kingdom. Mukherjee recently explored this issue in a paper published in Economics Letters.

The first condition, he explains, is that the firms involved engage in “passive cross-ownership,” in which businesses hold noncontrolling shares in rival businesses. The second condition is that the firms engage in cooperative research and development (R&D) with an aim to maximize profits across the board. Both conditions result in rival companies reducing their investments in noncooperative R&D.

The extent to which mergers might increase innovation also depends on the intensity of competition in the market, Mukherjee explains. “The factors involved makes decision-making by antitrust authorities difficult,” Mukherjee says, since if they work to prevent certain mergers—particularly those in industries where businesses are engaging in price wars—they could reduce product innovation and work against the social benefit.

Mukherjee believes these findings offer policymakers a roadmap for knowing which mergers might be in society’s best interest. In his paper, he concludes, “Antitrust authorities may not need to be too concerned about mergers in industries with passive cross ownership or cooperative R&D.”

Narcissistic Leaders Undermine University Performance

Universities that appoint narcissistic vice-chancellors (VCs) will see their program quality and reputations suffer as a result. For that reason, universities should take deliberate steps to detect and avoid narcissistic candidates, argue four scholars in a forthcoming paper in the journal Research Policy.

The paper’s co-authors are Shee-Yee Khoo, lecturer of finance at Bangor University in the U.K.; Pietro Perotti, associate professor of management at the University of Bath in the U.K.; Thanos Verousis, professor of sustainable finance at Vlerick Business School in Brussels; and Richard Watermeyer, a professor of education at the University of Bristol in the U.K.

The researchers gathered 10 years of data related to the performance and characteristics of higher education institutions (HEIs). Their sources included university websites, annual reports, and strategic planning reports; platforms such as Wikipedia and LinkedIn; and resources such as the National Student Survey website, the Research Excellence Framework website, and the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

The research team then measured the narcissism of vice-chancellors based on the size of their signatures on publicly available reports and letters. Signature size “has been widely used in recent research in accounting, finance and management” as a measure of narcissistic tendencies, they note.

After appointing VCs who exhibited high levels of narcissism, universities experienced declines in research and teaching quality, as well as lower rankings.

Using “difference-in-difference” analysis, the team compared university performance according to factors such as university policies, financial decision-making, and VC signature size. They found that after appointing VCs who exhibited high levels of narcissism, universities experienced declines in research and teaching quality, as well as lower rankings.

The researchers point to “excessive financial risk-taking and empire-building as possible mechanisms explaining the main results.” As an example of what can happen as a consequence of such actions, the team cites the University of East Anglia in the U.K., where leaders embarked on a significant campus expansion despite decreasing enrollments and increasing costs. That decision led to the university posting a financial deficit of 30 million GBP (more than 37 million USD).

The research team advises universities to take several actions to avoid or mitigate the impact of narcissistic leadership:

• Use psychometric tests or external consultants to assess personality traits of potential and current VCs.
• Strengthen governance policies to monitor and restrict the destructive behaviors of narcissistic leaders. “Transparent and accountable governance structures,” says Verousis, “can reduce the influence of individual leaders and ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of the institution and its stakeholders,” not of the VC. 
• Provide coaching, mentoring, feedback, training, and peer support to help VCs develop leadership skills, enhance self-awareness, improve emotional intelligence, and overcome narcissistic tendencies. 

The study’s results “are consistent with the view that narcissism is one of the most prominent traits of destructive leadership,” the researchers write. They believe these findings have “practical implications for leadership recruitment and the monitoring of leadership practices in the higher education sector.”

Research News

■ Ranking rewards interdisciplinary research. Times Higher Education (THE) and Schmidt Science Fellows have launched the Interdisciplinary Science Ranking to recognize and incentivize interdisciplinary science worldwide. The partners want to increase the prevalence of interdisciplinary collaboration in the sciences “to boost innovation and to make breakthrough discoveries to help solve the world’s biggest challenges.”

Higher education institutions around the world are invited to take part in the inaugural ranking. Data collection from universities will begin in January, and ranking results will be released in late 2024. Says Duncan Ross, THE’s chief data officer, “We hope the ranking’s impetus for greater collaboration will lead to many more scientific breakthroughs, which will significantly benefit people and the planet.”

■ Researchers delve into public perceptions about privacy. A new project aims to learn more about consumer attitudes toward disclosing their personal data to companies. Researchers at the University of Western Australia, Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates, and IÉSEG School of Management in France will work to discover what data companies acquire when they set up rewards programs or offer free Wi-Fi, what drives consumers to volunteer their personal data, and what attitudes consumers have about the disclosure of their personal data.

■  RSM relaunches its knowledge hub. The Rotterdam School of Management in The Netherlands has relaunched RSM Discovery, its online research platform. Originally launched in 2014, the redesigned platform features the latest research; an archive of past RSM articles and videos; and research related to featured topics, including leadership, data and artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, marketing, and logistics. The new design is meant to make “research more understandable and accessible for business professionals, students, and the media,” says Daniell Baan, RSM’s science communications officer. The site also gives users “the ability to share [content] even more widely with their networks.”

■ Gift supports blockchain research and curricula. The Wheeler Institute for Business and Development at London Business School has received a gift of 1 million USD from the Sui Foundation—which is part of Sui, a decentralized Layer-1 blockchain. Sui’s gift will further research, outreach activities, and curricula that focus on the intersection between business and blockchain development. As part of its contribution, the company also will provide guidance and advice to the school and institute regarding their research, teaching, and public outreach activities related to sectors such as fintech, automation, payment systems, and blockchain technology.

In addition to its gift to the Wheeler Institute, the Sui Foundation also recently announced the nine universities that received grants totaling 225,000 USD as part of the Sui Academic Research Awards.

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