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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze if gained trust is intrinsically motivating and whether it is correlated to subjective person-job fit and occupational turnover intentions among Swedish real estate brokers. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical data was gathered via a survey targeting all real estate brokers in Sweden and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings: The results indicated that brokers are motivated by gained trust from their sellers and that gained trust is a vital part of person-job fit among brokers. In addition, the results show that higher levels of person-job fit reduce the occupational turnover intentions among brokers. Research limitations/implications: Being a real estate broker in Sweden might differ from being a broker in many other otherwise comparable countries. Another limitation is the lack of measurements of job satisfaction and/or intrinsic motivation connected to other job characteristics besides customer relations and gained trust. The high mean values of person-job fit, and intrinsic motivation connected to gained trust from customers are contributing to a more nuanced description of brokerage. Practical implications: This study gives insights about intrinsic motivation and its connection to person-job fit. Awareness of what drives brokes can be used by both workers and managers to reduce occupational turnover. Originality/value: This study is interesting from a person-job fit theory advancement perspective since the focus is given to the connection between specific situational work characteristics and person-job fit.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare the level of professionalization of the real estate broker's occupation in Victoria, Australia, and Sweden. As previous studies have indicated that the real estate agent occupation in both regions is experiencing low levels of trust, an analysis of the level of professionalization is warranted. Design/methodology/approach: The data used in the analysis in this paper have been gathered from a number of different high-quality sources. In Sweden, information has been obtained from the Swedish Real Estate Agents Inspectorate, the Association of Swedish Real Estate Agents and the Swedish Real Estate Agents Association, and Real Estate Statistics. For the Victorian case, information has been obtained from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, which is the leading professional body in organizing real estate agents. Furthermore, information has also been sourced from the Business Licensing Authority as well as Consumer Affairs Victoria. The focus of the analysis has been on the institutional changes of the real estate profession, including the education required to become an agent, the legislation and supervision of real estate agents and the role of the professional bodies that organize the real estate agents. 10; Findings: The analysis shows that both the real estate brokerage market in Victoria and Sweden could be characterized as mature. Using the definition of a profession from Millerson (1964), the authors conclude that the brokerage industry has a number of the characteristics of a profession such as a long albeit interdisciplinary education, strong professional bodies, code of conduct and some level of self-regulation. Research limitations/implications: This research examines two countries, both considered mature in their house market process. Findings may be very different if the research methodology was applied to house markets that do not exhibit the same level of regulatory control. Practical implicat, QC 20230602

The support offered to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) comes in a variety of forms and has been at the core of small business studies during recent decades. Most of these studies have concentrated on development of best practices and the evaluation of governmental initiatives, which have increasingly focused on the use of different intermediaries as advisors for SMEs. Banks have rarely been discussed as sources of advice even though they have been found to be one of the most common sources of advice for SMEs. This study highlights the main variables leading to customer satisfaction regarding the advice provided by banks. By using a standardised survey, we study the relations of banks and SMEs based on three differentiating qualities of advice. These variables include the capability of the advisor in terms of understanding the specific needs of the SME, the commitment of the advisor to the relationship, and the use of non-standardized approaches in the interactions with the firm. By using these qualities banks are able to differentiate themselves from competitors and deepen the relationship between banks and SMEs. The hypotheses of the study were tested on a sample of 145 Swedish SMEs.

New technologies are at the heart of industry transformation. Virtual and augmented reality companies provide fundamentally new ways of communication, treatment, education, and specialist training within the medical industry. However, business models for new ventures that target the medical industry have received scant attention within academic research. Using a multiple case study approach, we analyze how virtual and augmented reality firms create value for their customers in the medical industry. In all, we have studied eight companies that offer different types of solutions for their target segments. The results of the analysis are four design elements consisting of twelve positions and three design themes that define the similarities and differences between the business models for the companies. We contribute to existing research within the field by analyzing business models of the investigated companies using a design approach, classifying the virtual and augmented reality companies, and analyzing the role of new technology in the development of the medical industry., QC 20210420

This paper presents basic data of the energy demand for district heating and plug loads logged by a building management system of an energy-efficient academic building located in Lund, Sweden. The data refers to the years 2019 and 2020 when occupancy varied significantly due to the Corona pandemic. The data shows that the building energy demand adapts poorly to fluctuating occupancy rates. With a possible increase of smart working in the future, building codes should account for more fluctuating occupancy rates in the modelling of the energy demand of buildings.

Purpose: This paper focuses on medical device university spin-offs (USOs), taking into account the peculiarities of financial and nonfinancial support and intellectual property rights (IPRs). The authors declare that these parameters play a significant role in business development at the early stages. Design/methodology/approach: This empirical data consist of individual and group interviews in Finland and Sweden, which are later inductively analyzed. Findings: The results show that public financial support contributes to the formation and start of sales stages in small countries and local markets. However, at the validation stage, approaches for supporting entrepreneurship in the field of medical devices may differ. The ownership of IPRs assists in the development of entrepreneurship in the region due to the transfer of research results and researchers to the industry and increases the number of spin-offs and the cooperation of universities with business. Originality/value: This contribution is in the identification of the key parameters for the formation, support and development of the USOs from the point of view of the availability of financial resources and the ownership of IPRs., QC 20201109

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between housing markets and new firm formation in six different industries in all 284 municipalities in Sweden. Design/methodology/approach The authors have used data from Statistics Sweden and The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth to develop a model to analyze the relationship between house prices and industry-specific new firm formation, with the interaction effect of financial infrastructure. Findings In the data, stable high house prices have no effect on entrepreneurship. However, a market with rising house prices has a positive effect on new firm formation, in retail, construction, business-to-business services and miscellaneous sectors, but produced no effect in either mining, agriculture and fishing or in manufacturing. The interaction between rising house prices and financial infrastructure does not change the positive effect on retail, business-to-business services and miscellaneous sectors, but within the construction industry, the positive effect on new firm formation disappears. In manufacturing, the authors observe the opposite - a positive effect, instead of no effect previously. Originality/value The contribution of this study is to provide evidence of how house prices are associated with entrepreneurship in different industries, as well as analyzing how the interaction between house prices and financial infrastructure is associated with entrepreneurship. By separating observations in time, endogeneity is controlled and a causal relationship where higher house prices is postulated, which leads to an increase in entrepreneurial activity in different industries. By using a spatial Durbin model, the authors control for spatial dependency., QC 20190920

Entrepreneurs are at the core of economic development in that they start new businesses or make existing firms grow. To fulfill this important role, entrepreneurs need access to finance. Owing to information asymmetry and the relatively high risk associated with business start-ups, many financiers shy away from engaging in relationships with firms during the early stages of their development. Based on the existing body of knowledge on the financing of entrepreneurship, we know that insider finance is of paramount importance in the early stages of firms’ development. We expand this knowledge base by analyzing the influence of house prices on business start-ups across municipalities in Sweden. In our analysis, we include data from all municipalities in Sweden. Our data on house prices and control variables are collected in period one, and our data on the frequency of start-ups are collected in period two. We find that rising house prices in a municipality lead to a higher frequency of start-ups. In our regression analysis, we find that a 1% increase in house prices leads to a 0.14% increase in start-ups. Our findings are in line with the limited international research that has been previously conducted, and for this reason, they could be seen as a vital addition to the existing body of knowledge within the area of entrepreneurship and regional development.

We study the influence of bank branch closure on new firm formation in Sweden, with a panel database that captures the geographical locations of all the Swedish bank branches from 2000 to 2013. Using spatial econometric analysis at a municipal level, we show that bank proximity to firms is vital for entrepreneurship to thrive and sustain in Sweden. From the Fixed-Effects spatial models, the increase in distance to the banks due to bank branch closure is shown to affect new firm formation negatively. The further a firm is located away from the bank, the higher the monitoring cost is for the banks. The increase in distance also results in an increase in information asymmetries because of the banks’ eroded ability to collect soft information about the borrower firm. Due to high risks associated with the lack of information and uncertainty, banks might not be as willing to loan money to a distant firm compared to a nearby firm. Furthermore, the presence of neighbourhood spillover effects is evidenced through the Moran’s I statistics, which means that the omission of spatial effects in the analysis would have resulted in biased estimates., QC 20190513

Entrepreneurs are at the core of economic development in that they start new businesses or make existing firms grow. To fulfill this important role, entrepreneurs need access to financing. Owing to information asymmetry and the relatively high risk associated with business startups, many financiers shy away from engaging in relationships with firms during the early stages of their development. Based on the existing body of knowledge on the financing of entrepreneurship, we know that insider finance is of paramount importance in the early stages of firms’ development. We expand this knowledge base by analyzing the influence of house prices on business startups across municipalities in Sweden. In our analysis, we include data from all municipalities in Sweden. Our data on house prices and control variables are collected in period one, and our data on the frequency of startups are collected in period two. We find that rising house prices in a municipality lead to a higher frequency of startups. In our spatial Durbin model, we find that a 1% increase in house prices leads to around 0.15% increase in startups. Our findings are in line with the limited international research that has been previously conducted, and therefore, our study might make a small but vital addition to this growing body of knowledge within the area of entrepreneurship and regional development., QC 20180411

Entrepreneurial orientation is a concept that captures the importance of how and why certain individuals decide to take higher risks than the average small business owner so as to increase their return on assets deployed. Entrepreneurial orientation is linked to the concept of control aversion, which is used to explain why certain individuals refrain from using external financing to expand their firms. Control aversion suggests that most small business owners prefer to maintain total control rather than invite in the potentially disruptive influence of an external owner/investor. This study combines these two concepts in an attempt to introduce financing and investors into the discussion of entrepreneurial orientation and performance. Equity investors are shown to have a major influence on entrepreneurial performance, because business owners with an entrepreneurial orientation gain substantially from interaction with investors through the transfer of knowledge. The model was tested with a LInear Structural RELations (LISREL) analysis on a sample of 459 Swedish small and medium-sized enterprises., QC 20170209

The financing of entrepreneurial ventures has been at the forefront of academic debate as well as policy-making discussion for almost a century. In general, there seems to be an agreement that the risks associated with business startups are higher than for mature firms, hence, these ventures will have to pay a higher interest rate than more mature and large firms. In this paper the authors analyze the role of a relatively new form of financing for entrepreneurial ventures - crowdfunding - And how this form of financing is similar and different from traditional sources of finance. The authors are also presenting different forms and models of crowdfunding available on the market together with illustrations from the crowdfunding industry in Sweden. The analysis indicates that the positive effects with crowdfunding are numerous but that the size of the crowdfunding sector is relatively small in comparison with the banking and venture capital industry., QC 20161121

The Swedish higher educational system is under pressure. The competition from international universities is getting fiercer, and the demographical projections indicate that the number of students entering the university system is peaking right now. At the same time, the financial support from the government is decreasing. In order to stay competitive Swedish universities are trying to find strategies for using the scarce resources in the optimal way. The problem is to strike a balance between quality and efficiency.Over the past ten years a lot of improvement has been made within the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) regarding quality and innovation in education. Pedagogical courses are mandatory for the staff, and the merits of educational experience have been emphasized in hiring new staff members. Even though problem-based learning, constructive alignment and peer instruction are common in most courses today, some other aspects of education and learning remains the same. One such conservative trait has to do with written examinations. Since the founding of the university in 1827, all written examinations have been done using paper and pen at the Royal Institute of Technology. It is interesting to note that even the school of computer science is using paper and pen for their final written examinations. The problems with using paper and pen are numerous and includes; problems with reading and grading because of poor handwriting, distribution of exams between teachers in the same course, written exams getting lost, etc. In comparison with other parts of the educational system, little has happened to improve quality and efficiency when it comes to written examinations.During 2013 and 2014 a number of teachers initiated a project for increasing the efficiency in written exams. There was a general understanding that the final part of the courses consumed too much time and effort in relations to the other parts. Hence, new software for digital examinations was identif, QC 20160119

In this paper the authors argue that for the development of SME’s, the learning process is instrumental for an open approach towards external financiers, including new owners. The analysis shows that firms learn to handle control aversion step by step, as they gain competence and experience through their relationship with external financiers. In this paper a linear structural equation modelling program, Lisrel, is used to analyze a sample of 281 firms (out of an original sample of 545 firms, yielding a response rate of 51.2 percent). The firms have less than 200 employees, and the sample includes both manufacturing and service firms. The questionnaire includes both attitudinal and factual aspects of control aversion and financing., QC 20151105

The purpose of the paper is to describe and analyse efforts to integrate research into teaching in a postgraduate degree program in real estate management. The long term goals of the changes were to increase graduation rates as well as the quality of dissertations. In order to validate our findings, the data for this paper emanate from a three main sources, namely; students' course evaluations, students' grades and a qualitative assessment of the students' thesis proposals made by senior lecturers. The results show that the first cohort of students found it stressful when individual research writing was introduced towards the end of their studies. With a more gradual and earlier introduction of writing in a series of courses in the program, coupled with changes in assessment tasks, the second cohort found individual research writing less stressful and more beneficial. Performance in the second cohort improved in appreciable ways., QC 20151211

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of small business entrepreneurs’ relinquishment of control aversion and the impact of their interaction with external financiers on market connection. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaires were sent to the chief executive officers of small businesses in the manufacturing and professional services sectors. A total of 459 valid responses were analyzed in a structural equation model. Findings – The attitude of small business entrepreneurs in relying on financiers’ advice is marked by control aversion. This fear of losing control creates information asymmetry, which in itself leads to decreased financing opportunities for small business entrepreneurs. The results of the study suggest that small firms seeking the aid of financiers will be provided with substantial additional information about the market. Issues pertaining to supply seem to be less relevant than those relating to demand, thus indicating that greater focus should be placed on the investment readiness of small businesses. Originality/value – This study emphasizes the importance of the role of attitudes among SMEs in understanding capital market failure and credit rationing., QC 20151027