Aleksandra Urman, Mykola Makhortykh, Roberto Ulloa, Auditing the representation of migrants in image web search results, Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, Vol. 9 (1), 2022. (Journal Article)
 
Search engines serve as information gatekeepers on a multitude of topics that are prone to gender, ethnicity, and race misrepresentations. In this paper, we specifically look at the image search representation of migrant population groups that are often subjected to discrimination and biased representation in mainstream media, increasingly so with the rise of right-wing populist actors in the Western countries. Using multiple (n = 200) virtual agents to simulate human browsing behavior in a controlled environment, we collect image search results related to various terms referring to migrants (e.g., expats, immigrants, and refugees, seven queries in English and German used in total) from the six most popular search engines. Then, with the aid of manual coding, we investigate which features are used to represent these groups and whether the representations are subjected to bias. Our findings indicate that search engines reproduce ethnic and gender biases common for mainstream media representations of different subgroups of migrant population. For instance, migrant representations tend to be highly racialized, and female migrants as well as migrants at work tend to be underrepresented in the results. Our findings highlight the need for further algorithmic impact auditing studies in the context of representation of potentially vulnerable groups in web search results. |
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Giulia Crestini, Andrea Giuffredi-Kähr, Radu Petru Tanase, Martin Natter, Does Pricing Transparency Benefit or Harm the Retailer-Customer Relationship?, In: Annual Conference of the Decision Sciences Institute. 2022. (Conference Presentation)

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Pavlína Wurzelová, Gül Çalikli, Alberto Bacchelli, Interpersonal Conflicts During Code Review, In: 25th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work And Social Computing, ACM, New York, USA, 2022. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
 
Code review consists of manual inspection, discussion, and judgment of source code by developers other than the code's author. Due to discussions around competing ideas and group decision-making processes, interpersonal conflicts during code reviews are expected. This study systematically investigates how developers perceive code review conflicts and addresses interpersonal conflicts during code reviews as a theoretical construct. Through the thematic analysis of interviews conducted with 22 developers, we confirm that conflicts during code reviews are commonplace, anticipated and seen as normal by developers. Even though conflicts do happen and carry a negative impact for the review, conflicts-if resolved constructively-can also create value and bring improvement. Moreover, the analysis provided insights on how strongly conflicts during code review and its context (i.e., code, developer, team, organization) are intertwined. Finally, there are aspects specific to code review conflicts that call for the research and application of customized conflict resolution and management techniques, some of which are discussed in this paper. Data and material: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5848794 |
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Cindy Candrian, Anne Scherer, Rise of the machines: Delegating decisions to autonomous AI, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 134, 2022. (Journal Article)
 
Delegation is an important part of organizational success and can be used to overcome personal shortcomings and draw upon the expertise and abilities of others. However, delegation comes with risks and uncertainties, as it entails a transfer of power and loss of control. Indeed, research has documented that people tend to under-delegate to other humans, often leading to poor decisions and ultimately negative economic consequences. Today, however, people are faced with a new delegation choice: Artificial Intelligence (AI). Fueled by Big Data, AI is rapidly becoming more intelligent and frequently outperforming human forecasters and decision-makers. Given this evolution of computational autonomy, researchers need to revisit the hows and whys of decision delegation and clarify not only whether people are willing to cede control to AI agents but also whether AI can reduce the under-delegation that is especially pronounced when people are faced with decisions that spur a high desire for control. By linking research on decision delegation, social risk, and control premium to the emerging field of trust in AI, we propose and find that people prefer to delegate decisions to AI as compared to human agents, especially when decisions entail losses (Studies 1–3). Results further illuminate the underlying psychological process involved (Study 1 and 2) and show that process transparency increases delegation to humans but not to AI (Study 3). These findings have important implications for research on trust in AI and the applicability of autonomous AI systems for managers and decision makers. |
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Philipp Wegelin, Johannes Orlowski, Helmut Max Dietl, The importance of high performing team members in complex team work: results from quasi-experiments in professional team sports, Economic Inquiry, Vol. 60 (3), 2022. (Journal Article)
 
This paper empirically assesses peer effects of high performing team members in reciprocally interdependent team production. Using data from the National Basketball Association (NBA), we identify peer effects by exploiting unforeseen in-game injuries of high performing players. Results indicate that without a high performing player, other team members maintain efficiency and the division of tasks among each other. However, they slightly increase risk taking and decrease their individual output, resulting in an inferior overall outcome. These effects depend on whether a high performing player has a team-oriented or a self-oriented role in the team. Additionally, we observe that relatively skilled players try to step in for the absent high performing player. |
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Shalom H Schwartz, Jan Cieciuch, Measuring the refined theory of individual values in 49 cultural groups: Psychometrics of the revised portrait value questionnaire, Assessment, Vol. 29 (5), 2022. (Journal Article)
 
Researchers around the world are applying the recently revised Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ-RR) to measure the 19 values in Schwartz’s refined values theory. We assessed the internal reliability, circular structure, measurement model, and measurement invariance of values measured by this questionnaire across 49 cultural groups (N = 53,472) and 32 language versions. The PVQ-RR reliably measured 15 of the 19 values in the vast majority of groups and two others in most groups. The fit of the theory-based measurement models supported the differentiation of almost all values in every cultural group. Almost all values were measured invariantly across groups at the configural and metric level. A multidimensional scaling analysis revealed that the PVQ-RR perfectly reproduced the theorized order of the 19 values around the circle across groups. The current study established the PVQ-RR as a sound instrument to measure and to compare the hierarchies and correlates of values across cultures. |
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Linda Weigl, Alexandre Amard, Hanna Marxen, Tamara Roth, Liudmila Zavolokina, User-centricity and Public Values in eGovernment: Friend or Foe?, In: Thirtieth European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2022), ECIS, Thirtieth European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2022), 2022. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
 
In their delivery of services, public administrations seek to develop a ‘citizen-centric’ approach. Concomitantly, user-centricity is emerging as a widely accepted construct for Web 3.0 applications supporting the digital interaction between service providers and recipients. The digitalization of public services can positively impact important public values, such as efficiency and transparency. However, the digital divide highlights that information and communication technologies can simultaneously neglect public needs. This begs the question of whether user-centricity reflects or conflicts with public values. To answer this question, we present a systematic review of existing literature on user-centricity and public values. The contribution of this paper is an extended taxonomy of public values for user- centricity, as well as recommendations for public policy to address conflicts between public values and user-centricity. |
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Simon Hediger, Loris Michel, Jeffrey Näf, On the use of random forest for two-sample testing, Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Vol. 170, 2022. (Journal Article)
 
Following the line of classification-based two-sample testing, tests based on the Random Forest classifier are proposed. The developed tests are easy to use, require almost no tuning, and are applicable for any distribution on R^d. Furthermore, the built-in variable importance measure of the Random Forest gives potential insights into which variables make out the difference in distribution. An asymptotic power analysis for the proposed tests is conducted. Finally, two real-world applications illustrate the usefulness of the introduced methodology. To simplify the use of the method, the R-package “hypoRF” is provided. |
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Florian Berg, Julian Kölbel, Roberto Rigobon, Aggregate Confusion: The Divergence of ESG Ratings, Review of Finance, 2022. (Journal Article)

This paper investigates the divergence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings based on data from six prominent ESG rating agencies: KLD, Sustainalytics, Moody’s ESG (Vigeo-Eiris), S&P Global (RobecoSAM), Refinitiv (Asset4), and MSCI. We document the rating divergence and map the different methodologies onto a common taxonomy of categories. Using this taxonomy, we decompose the divergence into contributions of scope, measurement, and weight. Measurement contributes 56% of the divergence, scope 38%, and weight 6%. Further analyzing the reasons for measurement divergence, we detect a rater effect where a rater’s overall view of a firm influences the measurement of specific categories. The results call for greater attention to how the data underlying ESG ratings are generated. |
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Barbara Widmer, Thorsten Hens, Wir erleben Zeitenwende an Finanzmärkten, In: Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen SRF, 23 May 2022. (Media Coverage)

Rund um den Globus sind die Kurse an den Finanzmärkten ins Minus gerutscht: Der Krieg in der Ukraine, hohe Teuerungsraten und Lieferengpässe drücken auf die Stimmung an den Börsen. Der Finanzexperte Thorsten Hens sagt: «Wir erleben gerade eine Zeitenwende an den Finanzmärkten.»
«An den Börsen geht die Angst um» oder «Weltwirtschaft droht perfekter Sturm.» So lauten die Schlagzeilen aus der Finanzwelt in den letzten Tagen. Die Schweizer Börse steht mit einem Minus von elf Prozent seit Anfang Jahr noch vergleichsweise gut da. Andere Finanzplätze hat es noch schlimmer erwischt. Hohe Tagesverluste wecken bereits Erinnerungen an die Finanzkrise 2008 oder an die geplatzte Dotcom-Blase zu Beginn des Jahrtausends.
Thorsten Hens forscht zu den Ursachen der aktuell ruppigen Börsenzeiten und möglichen Folgen für die Finanzwelt. Am Institut für Banking und Finance der Universität Zürich untersucht der Finanzprofessor die Psychologie des Investierens. Hens ist zudem außerordentlicher Professor für Finanzen an der Norwegischen Handelshochschule in Bergen, Norwegen. |
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Anastasia Ruvimova, Alexander Lill, Jan Gugler, Lauren Howe, Elaine Huang, Gail Murphy, Thomas Fritz, An Exploratory Study of Productivity Perceptions in Software Teams, In: International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE'22), ACM, Pittsburgh, PA, 2022. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
 
Software development is a collaborative process requiring a careful balance of focused individual effort and team coordination. Though questions of individual productivity have been widely examined in past literature, less is known about the interplay between developers' perceptions of their own productivity as opposed to their team’s. In this paper, we present an analysis of 624 daily surveys and 2899 self-reports from 25 individuals across five software teams in North America and Europe, collected over the course of three months. We found that developers tend to operate in fluid team constructs, which impacts team awareness and complicates gauging team productivity. We also found that perceived individual productivity most strongly predicted perceived team productivity, even more than the amount of team interactions, unplanned work, and time spent in meetings. Future research should explore how fluid team structures impact individual and organizational productivity. |
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Felix Kübler, Laurence Kotlikoff, Andrey Polbin, Simon Scheidegger, Can Today's and Tomorrow's World Uniformly Gain from Carbon Taxation?, In: Philadelphia Workshop on Macroeconomics & Economic Policy. 2022. (Conference Presentation)

Climate change will impact current and future generations in different regions very differently. This paper develops the first large-scale, annually calibrated, multi-region, overlapping generations model of climate change and carbon policy. It features region-specific temperature and damage functions with the phased impact of emissions on global and regional temperature calibrated to the latest scientific evidence. Absent policy, calibrated worst-case damages in the next 200 years reach and remain near 20 percent of GDP for most regions, with India, Brazil, and the South Asian Pacific suffering roughly 40 percent of GDP losses. Russia and Canada benefit somewhat from global warming. Carbon taxation, coupled with region- and generation-specific transfers, can both correct the carbon externality and raise the welfare of all current and future agents across all regions by 4.3 percent. The impact on the use and duration of fossil fuels is dramatic, as is the reduction in the path of global emissions. However, achieving completely uniform welfare gains leaves future generations in particular regions with exceptionally high net taxes. Fortunately, a carbon tax-cum redistribution policy that limits the consumption-equivalent net tax burden on any generation in any region to less than 10 percent can deliver a 4.0 percent or higher welfare gain for all peoplekind – present and future. However, carbon taxes set through time, at carbon’s marginal intertemporal social cost do far too little to mitigate climate change unless all major emitters, particularly China, adopt them and do so immediately.
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Armin Müller, Thorsten Hens, «Nachhaltig investieren sollte man nicht wegen der Rendite», In: Züricher Unterländer, 14 May 2022. (Media Coverage)

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Marc Chesney, Krieg in der Ukraine: Das Undenkbare denken?, In: Infosperber, p. online, 12 May 2022. (Newspaper Article)
 
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Anne-Barbara Luft, Thorsten Hens, Ex-Vontobel-Mann Roger Studer will Kryptoanlagen nachhaltig gestalten, In: Handelszeitung, 11 May 2022. (Media Coverage)

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Redaktion, Stefano Battiston, Les nominés des Swiss Sustainable Funds Awards 2022 sont désignés, In: Allnews, 9 May 2022. (Media Coverage)
 
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Redaktion, Stefano Battiston, Die Nominierten für die Swiss Sustainable Funds Awards 2022 stehen fest, In: Moneycab, 9 May 2022. (Media Coverage)
 
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Alexandra Stühff, Erich Walter Farkas, Ist das ESG, oder kann das weg? Die ETH, die Universität Zürich und Robeco suchen eine Antwort darauf, wie sich die Wirkung nachhaltiger Anlagen messen lässt, In: NZZ, 4 May 2022. (Media Coverage)

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Bastian Jaeger, Bastiaan Oud, Tony Williams, Eva G Krumhuber, Ernst Fehr, Jan B. Engelmann, Can people detect the trustworthiness of strangers based on their facial appearance?, Evolution and Human Behavior, 2022. (Journal Article)
 
Although cooperation can lead to mutually beneficial outcomes, cooperative actions only pay off for the individual if others can be trusted to cooperate as well. Identifying trustworthy interaction partners is therefore a central challenge in human social life. How do people navigate this challenge? Prior work suggests that people rely on facial appearance to judge the trustworthiness of strangers. However, the question of whether these judgments are actually accurate remains debated. The present research examines accuracy in trustworthiness detection from faces and three moderators proposed by previous research. We investigate whether people show above-chance accuracy (a) when they make trust decisions and when they provide explicit trustworthiness ratings, (b) when judging male and female counterparts, and (c) when rating cropped images (with non-facial features removed) and uncropped images. Two studies showed that incentivized trust decisions (Study 1, n = 131 university students) and incentivized trustworthiness predictions (Study 2, n = 266 university students) were unrelated to the actual trustworthiness of counterparts. Accuracy was not moderated by stimulus type (cropped vs. uncropped faces) or counterparts' gender. Overall, these findings suggest that people are unable to detect the trustworthiness of strangers based on their facial appearance, when this is the only information available to them. |
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Paride Iadonisi, Financing M&A: Leverage Dynamics and Performance, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2022. (Master's Thesis)

This thesis examines the effect of leverage on M&A operative performance and analyses post-acquisition leverage dynamics. The study is based on a sample of 1,719 firms and 1,181 acquisitions in the DACH region from 2000 to 2019. The results indicate that overleveraged firms pursue the most performance-increasing acquisitions, are less likely to make acquisitions, and generally decrease their leverage ratio in the acquisition year
and in the three following years. Additionally, managers of underleveraged firms, usually
increase their leverage ratio in the same period. The thesis confirms the current knowledge of leverage dynamics and performance also in the DACH market and it expands it by considering operative performance metrics instead of the usually implemented stock
performance.
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