Theses defended in 2023

Date: November 29, 2023

Thesis supervisor : Géraldine SCHMIDT

Jury members:

• Géraldine SCHMIDT, Professor, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Thesis Director
• Marc VALAX, Professor, IAE Nice, Université Côte d'Azur, Rapporteur
• Françoise CHEVALIER, Associate Professor, HEC Paris, Rapporteur
• Éric CORNUEL, Professor, Université Catholique de Louvain, Chairman EFMD & EFMG Global, Suffragant
• Van Nhu TRAN, Professor, Academic Director & MBA Director, CFVG, Suffragante
• Philippe MONIN, Professor, Academic Director, Grenoble École de Management, Suffragant

Summary

With 38 campuses abroad, including 23 managed by business schools, France remains in the top 3 of multicampus schools worldwide in 2023. This fashionable model is not without consequences for faculty management and academic career development. The impact of internationalization on research and teaching activities is well known. However, little is known about the impact on service activities and faculty management, even though management and HRM techniques are essential to the success of internationalization. Moreover, the faculty's composition and missions are subject to evaluation by various stakeholders, whose disavowal may harm the institution (Lejeune et al., 2015).

This thesis proposes to explore the interactions between institutional actors, business schools and professors in order to contribute to understanding the structuring of academic careers. Based on career script theory (Barley & Tolbert, 1997; Garbe & Duberley, 2021) and a qualitative methodology, we develop three essays representing three levels of analysis to which we integrate elements from the international human resource management literature (Cascio & Boudreau, 2016; Collings et al., 2018).

Combined, our results show how environmental transformation affects the formation of new norms and institutions, how organizational adaptation reshapes HRM practices, processes and criteria, and how, in the absence of formal processes, personal ambition and cultural characteristics influence individuals' career trajectories. In conclusion, this research argues that, in multicampus business schools, notions of academic career and international reputation are intended to integrate missions of service and international mobility.

Date: November 27, 2023

Thesis supervisor : Géraldine SCHMIDT

Jury members:

• Géraldine SCHMIDT, Professor, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Thesis Director
• Clotilde CORON, Professor, Université Paris-Saclay, Rapporteur
• Benoît GRASSER, Professor, IAE Nancy, Université de Lorraine, Rapporteur
• Patrick GILBERT, Professor Emeritus, IAE-Paris, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Suffragant
• Sabrina LOUFRANI-FEDIDA, Professor, Université Côte d'Azur, Suffragant

Summary

Since the publication of The War for Talent in the 2000s, talent management (TM) has become central to managerial discourse and practice. This thesis opens the black box of talent management by studying it empirically and contextualized.

An initial research study analyzes 6 European companies and goes beyond existing typologies by highlighting a new type of talent: rebellious leaders, capable of conforming to organizational culture while also having the ability to diverge. A second study, carried out in 26 French companies, highlights the specific French characteristics of TMs, including the dual exclusivity - external, linked to qualifications, and internal, linked to elitist status. A third study is based on 12 months of participant observation in a French consulting firm. It uses the concept of performativity to analyze the effects of TM's elitist discourse on the practices of operational managers. It uncovers the strategies these managers use to circumvent a more inclusive TM practice, and the ethical dissonances they may face.

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Based on this rich empirical material, this doctoral research identifies 7 idiosyncrasies characterizing French-style talent management. It also highlights that the exclusive-inclusive two-headed model of TM reflects very little of the empirical reality, which turns out to be far more complex and dynamic. Finally, it highlights the harmful consequences of an elitist approach to TM and the meritocratic narrative that underpins it.

Date: November 16, 2023

Thesis supervisor : Géraldine SCHMIDT

Jury members:

• Géraldine SCHMIDT, Professor, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Thesis Director
• Clotilde CORON, Professor, Université Paris Saclay, Thesis co-director
• Patrice LAROCHE, Professor, IAE Nancy, Rapporteur
• Séverine VENTOLINI, Professor, University of Tours, Rapporteur
• Éric DAVOINE, Professor, University of Fribourg, Suffragant
• Anne JANAND, Maîtresse de conférences HDR, Université Paris-Saclay, Suffragante

Abstract

Employability has long been a concern for researchers due to its complex nature and the evolution of labor markets to meet the new demands of the 4.0 industrial revolution and globalization. The overarching research question is "what is the role of job creation in contributing to the perceived employability of young professionals (JPs) in the Vietnamese context?" The first essay was a bibliometric review aimed at tracking trends, changes and development in employability research. From this, a more comprehensive overview of employability research was sketched out, paving the way for potential avenues for future research. Accordingly, the second trial aimed to determine whether vocational skills could improve the perceived employability of JPs via career success and job creation in the Vietnamese context. PLS-SEM was used to evaluate the measurement and structural models, and to examine the mediating role of career success (objective and subjective) and job creation. From this, job creation showed the most significant effects and was related to both staff autonomy and managerial control. Consequently, job creation and employability were at the heart of the third trial. The third trial aimed to explore the role of managers in facilitating job creation among young people and the extent to which job creation contributes to improving the employability of JPs. The third essay reveals specific findings in the Vietnamese context. The thesis extends the previous employability literature further to a personal and multi-level perspective (on the part of managers and JPs) with the effects of personal resources (career skills) through personal adaptation (job creation) and personal success (career success), which can lead to human resource management indication.

Date: November 13, 2023

Thesis supervisor : Florent NOËL

Jury members:

• Florent NOËL, Professor, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Thesis Director
• Hadj NEKKA, Professor, University of Angers, Thesis co-director
• Clotilde CORON, Professor, Université Paris-Saclay, Rapporteur
• Rémi BOURGUIGNON, Professor, IAE Paris-Est, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Rapporteur
• Géraldine SCHMIDT, Professor, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Suffragant

Summary

Our thesis aims to show that resistances have long been considered obstacles to the adaptation of the company and its environment. They can play a full part in organizational learning, particularly when we consider the contributions to the organization of their identity-defending reactions. To achieve this objective, we follow a qualitative approach of the anchored-nuanced theorizing type (Paillé, 1996). Our research thus combines a preliminary conceptual framework with an inductive empirical study to develop a model schematizing the phenomena associated with the contributions of resistance behaviors. Our literature review first considers change through its impact on organizational identity (Corley and Gioia, 2004). Next, we consider the capacities of resistance to significantly transform the organization over time (Courpasson et al., 2012). Finally, we develop a cognitive approach to change, which leads us to consider the participation of resistors in the diversity of viewpoints in the field. Our study is based on a period of observation, 62 semi-directive interviews, including 11 on life stories, and the analysis of various websites. We are particularly interested in the influences of organizational identity, its dissonance with other identity logics and the involvement of actors in adapting to change, to demonstrate how this path leads to the emergence of individual and organizational learning linked to cognitive management. This inductive analysis leads to a two-level model. The first describes radical organizational change through a three-stage process of initiation, implementation and anchoring. More specifically, we focus on the effects of organizational identity, its conflict with another identity logic, and the participation of actors in the renewal of change. The second level of modeling focuses on the roles of resistors in this process. It shows that resistors are stakeholders in the key stages of change, and that they enable the organization to evolve progressively towards the learning organization ideal. We also propose a typology of resistors (Undecided, Persuaded, Emerging Actors, New Blockers) that allow us to address the diversity of positive effects of resistors' behaviors.

Date: October 11, 2023

Thesis supervisor : Stéphane SAUSSIER

Jury members:

• Stéphane SAUSSIER, Professor, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Sorbonne, Thesis Director
• Rémi BOURGUIGNON, Professor, IAE Paris-Est, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Thesis co-director
• Clotilde CORON, Professor, Université Paris-Saclay, Rapporteur
• France GRAVELLE, Professor, Université du Québec à Montréal, Rapporteur
• Alain KLARSFELD, Professor, Toulouse Business School, Suffragant
• Isabelle BARTH, Professor, University of Strasbourg, Suffragant

Summary

The aim of this thesis is to study mezzanine debt as an alternative to traditional financing in the renewable energy sector. To this end, we have carried out various empirical studies highlighting mezzanine debt and project financing. The first chapter describes the current state of mezzanine debt in project financing. Through a review of the literature on the characteristics of maximum debt recourse, subordination emerges as the fundamental characteristic of mezzanine debt. The second chapter provides an overview of the various players involved in project financing in the renewable energy sector in France. It also provides an insight into the rules governing the development of renewable energies in France, and thus a better understanding of the role of financial innovation in the development of this sector. In short, this characterization of the various players provides a better understanding of the sectoral environment in which our empirical analyses were carried out. Chapter 3 shows that mezzanine debt is a key determinant of the use of project finance in the renewable energy sector. An econometric analysis based on a sample of projects in the renewable energies sector shows that mezzanine debt is a key element in the use of project financing in the renewable energies sector in France. The fourth and final chapter shows that mezzanine debt offers an optimal combination of financial models for financing renewable energy projects using convertible bonds as the financial backing. Based on the model for financing a methanization project, the presence of mezzanine debt lowers interest rates on senior debt and increases the profitability of investors in the project.

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Date: June 7, 2023

Thesis supervisor : Philippe EYNAUD

Jury members:

• Philippe EYNAUD, Professor, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Thesis Director
• Bérangère SZOSTAK, Professor, Université Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Rapporteur
• Patrick VALÉAU, Professor, University of Rennes, Rapporteur
• Nathalie RAULET-CROSET, Professor, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Suffragante
• Martin CAOUETTE, Professor, Université du Québec à Trois Rivières, Suffragant
• Célia LEMAIRE, Professor, IAE Lyon, Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Suffragante

Summary

People with disabilities suffer many forms of injustice caused by natural and social contingencies. Through two case studies, this descriptive and comprehensive doctoral work proposes to analyze organizational practices in associations in the field of disability in the light of social justice theories. The first is a participatory recruitment process involving people with multiple disabilities in the selection of the professionals who will support them, in a process of self-determination and inclusion. The second case study concerns a mutual self-help group for people with psychic disabilities, based on a peer-help and self-management approach. Through the prism of Martha Nussbaum's capability approach and Nancy Fraser's recognition paradigm, the thesis explores the mechanisms, levers and impasses of these two initiatives to understand how integrating social justice principles into management can help reduce the social, symbolic and epistemic injustices associated with disability.

Date: January 10, 2023

Co-Thesis supervisor : Stéphane SAUSSIER

Jury members:

• Dominique JACQUET, Professor, École des Ponts Paris Tech, Thesis Director
• Stéphane SAUSSIER, Professor, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Thesis co-director
• Michel LYONNET DU MOUTIER, Professor Emeritus, Université Paris Nanterre, Rapporteur
• Bernard SINCLAIR-DESGAGNE, Professor, SKEMA Business School, Rapporteur
• Éric LAMARQUE, Professor, IAE Paris-Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Suffragant
• Nicolas ROCHON, CEO Fonds d'Investissement RGREEN, Suffragant

Summary

This thesis proposes to study the arrival of the potential segmentation of Neurodiversity, driven by a vindictive field seeking to escape the stigmatization of its current management category: disability. Indeed, this situation represents a unique opportunity to observe a categorical birth, by transferring the research field of categorization - initially developed in market logic - to the field of Human Resources, within the framework of Diversity management.

. Based on a comprehensive methodology that is both original and systemic, this research is rooted in the initial observation of a social phenomenon - the "H.P.I." - through the prism of its cultural manifestations, before anchoring itself in a mixed quantitative-qualitative methodology, first with a large-scale survey of individuals who consider themselves concerned, and then with a 2-stage qualitative protocol, almost 2 years apart, enabling us to observe how stakeholders are working to co-create this future segmentation. Our research shows how an initial non-category prepares to become a segmentation because it meets with specific interest on the company side, echoing a demand for recognition from the field, but also how a lack of definition outside the company will enable the latter to orientate the categorical boundaries in its own economic interests, having as direct co-constructors only an internal population and therefore under dependence. Finally, we have also shown that the future category of Neurodiversity is being constructed because of a reinforcement by the company of an essentialization falsely claimed by the field, thus making any progression - individual or collective - impossible.