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Background: Previous studies have shown that absenteeism is negatively associated with employee-level performance, but we do not know how exactly absenteeism affects enterprise-level performance. To bridge this knowledge gap, we investigate how average long-term absenteeism affects Norwegian enterprises’ operating revenues and productivity. Also, we investigate if absenteeism decreases employment and whether operating revenues mediate the association. (2) Methods: We performed an enterprise-level dynamic unconditional quasi-maximum likelihood fixed-effects panel regression. (3) Results: The average share of long-term absenteeism nonlinearly decreases operating revenues and overall productivity at an increasing rate. The nonlinear effect may indicate deteriorating value creation among the share of employees largely not absent, but their productivity actually increases at an increasing rate. Thus, the overall findings indicate that the least productive employees first tend to opt out of the workforce, and as absenteeism increases, those subsequently opting out are otherwise increasingly productive. In parallel, those remaining in the workforce are increasingly productive. Absenteeism, moreover, decreases employment the following year, which is partly explained by revenue losses. However, enterprises cut their workforce due to factors beyond the impact of absenteeism on revenues.

This paper's major focus is to study if firms' emphasis on environmental and social sustainability has impacted how they have been affected by and responded to COVID-19. A survey of Norwegian firms across industries shows that those emphasizing environmental and social sustainability have had a relatively strong response to COVID-19, albeit not having been strongly affected. For firms in the aquaculture industry, the results are similar to those emphasizing environmental and social sustainability. Firms in the hospitality, tourism and culture industry and firms with international engagements have been strongly affected by COVID-19 and have also had a strong response. Firms with international ownership have been strongly affected but have not had a corresponding response. Overall, being strongly affected by COVID-19 does not always result in a corresponding response. Similarly, a strong response to COVID-19, being the case for firms emphasizing sustainability, is not always triggered by being strongly affected.

Purpose This study aims to investigate how and to what extent structural network properties affect dyadic negotiation behavior in tourism destination ecosystems. Specifically, this study addresses negotiation behavior in terms of problem-solving and contending, because these two key strategies reflect the integrative and distributive aspects of dyadic interactions. Design/methodology/approach This study relies on network data and dyadic survey data from nine mountain tourism destinations in Southeastern Norway. The structural network properties the authors research are triadic closure – the extent to which a dyad has common ties to other actors – and structural equivalence – the similarities in networking patterns that capture firms’ competition for similar resources. In addition, the authors also study a possible effect of relationship duration on negotiation behavior. Findings Triadic closure and relationship duration have positive effects on problem-solving, and structural equivalence tends to decrease problem-solving, although the effect is inconsistent; none of these three independent variables was found to affect contending negotiation behavior. Research limitations/implications This study shows that a dyad’s structural network embeddedness has implications for negotiation behavior. Further research is encouraged to develop this theoretical perspective. Originality/value This study is a pioneering investigation of how structural network properties affect dyadic negotiation behavior in ongoing coproducing relationships in real-world destination ecosystems.

Panel data of Norwegian industries between 2001 and 2014 show that while employment growth occurs equally in small and large firms percentage-wise, employment reduction largely occurs in large firms. The findings imply that large firms are not an engine of employment growth but instead take a lead position in employment reduction. Large firms' employment reduction, in turn, increases wage inequality while median and mean wages are unaltered. The findings imply that large firms' layoffs do not dominate among top-earners but among employees earning median and mean wages.