CEGE - Contribuições em Revistas Científicas / Contribution to Journals
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- Probabilistic vector machinesPublication . Silva, A. Pedro DuarteThis paper proposes a novel Support Vector Machine (SVM) methodology for finding accurate probabilities of class memberships in supervised classification problems. Classical SVMs do not complement their class predictions with reliable confidence measures for each class assignment. For two-class problems this problem can be overcome by combining a sequence of weighted SVMs predictions into consistent class probabilities. In this work we show how a smart use of mathematical programming models can be used to extend this approach to the general multi-class classification problem. Previous attempts to tackle this problem either do not scale well with the number of different classes, or rely on sub-optimal partition strategies. Numerical experiments reveal the good scaling properties of the proposal, and the relative advantages of its class probability estimates over alternative approaches
- Understanding the determinants of adoption and intention to recommend AI technology in travel and transportationPublication . Baptista, Gonçalo; Pereira, AntonioThe travel and transportation sectors continuously fight to stay up to date with new advancements in technology. Disruptive technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), are being used to develop businesses, enhance economic growth, revolutionize existing industries, create new opportunities, and increase productivity and efficiency. Notwithstanding the several advantages that this technology may bring, there is still little research on AI use in the travel and transportation sectors. This research contributes to this still understudied field to fill a gap in the literature by putting out a novel, thorough, and as far as we know not yet tested until now theoretical model, designed with the combination of the outcome of a literature meta-analysis study with Travel Experience and the Intention to Recommend technology constructs. A quantitative investigation using an online questionnaire was administered through social media and reached a total of 100 European participants. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test the suggested model empirically. The findings highlight that the user’s attitude towards AI is strongly influenced by Performance Expectancy and that the Intention to Use this technology is significantly influenced by Initial Trust and Attitude. Theoretical and practical contributions, limitations, and future areas of research are discussed.
- Stakeholder differences in valued hotel green practicesPublication . Julião, Jorge; Monteiro, Inês; Gaspar, Marcelo; Trindade, Maria AliceThis paper aims to compare the perceptions of hotel customers and hotel staff regarding the value of green hotel attributes. By examining both stakeholder groups, the study addresses a gap in sustainable hospitality research, which largely overlooks employee perspectives in favour of customer preferences. An exploratory, cross-sectional survey was conducted using structured questionnaires, administered to hotel guests (n = 307) and hotel staff (n = 89) in Porto, Portugal. Respondents rated 15 green hotel attributes using a five-point Likert scale. Demographic data were also collected to analyse perceptual differences across gender, age, income, and education. The results revealed that both customers and staff exhibited environmental awareness, though their prioritisation of specific green practices differed. Customers tended to value visible environmental measures, such as recycling bins, energy-saving light bulbs, and renewable energy signage, while staff placed greater emphasis on operational sustainability aspects, including low-flow plumbing fixtures, refillable soap dispensers, and durable goods used in service areas. These differences reflect the stakeholders’ distinct roles and experiences within the hotel ecosystem. This study enriches the discourse on sustainable hospitality by providing a dual-stakeholder analysis of green hotel attributes using a shared evaluative framework. The findings offer practical insights for hotel managers aligning sustainability strategies with the expectations of both guests and employees, supporting more effective and inclusive green implementation in the lodging sector.
- ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’: a critical realist approach to industrial policyPublication . Paiva-Silva, João; Martins, Nuno OrnelasThe resurgence of interest in the topic of industrial policy has been accompanied by an attempt to study it through novel methods of mainstream Economics, within what has been termed the ‘new empirics’ of industrial policy. Such an attempt stands in contrast to the more usual methodology adopted in what we call here the Industrial Policy/Developmental State (IPDS) paradigm. Drawing on the Critical Realist approach to Economics, we show why the methodology adopted in the IPDS paradigm is more adequate for the study of industrial policy than the methodology adopted within the ‘new empirics’ of industrial policy. We also argue that the methodology employed in the IPDS paradigm is quite compatible with Critical Realism, and would benefit from a more explicit engagement with the latter when systematizing its key methodological tenets.
- The impact of the ECB’s PEPP on Euro area bond spreadsPublication . Pinto, João; Costa, TiagoWe examine the impact of the European Central Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) on euro area banks, non-financial firms, and governments’ cost of borrowing. Using a large sample of 751 sovereign bonds, 2,116 corporate bonds, 469 covered bonds, and 725 asset-backed securities, issued in the 2018-2021 period, and subsamples of eligible bonds, we find that the PEPP successfully reduced corporate, covered, and sovereign bond spreads in both the announcement and purchasing periods, consistent with signalling, direct, and portfolio rebalancing channels of monetary policy. For asset-backed securities, the findings are mixed: while we show a spread reduction during the purchasing period for the full sample, we do not find any significant impact for bonds fulfilling eligibility criteria. Finally, we show that the PEPP’s impact on bond spreads is significantly higher for those issued in GIIPS versus core European countries.
- The impact of providing non-human identity cues about sales agents on consumer responses: the role of social presence and speciesism activationPublication . Cicco, Roberta De; Elmashhara, Maher Georges; Silva, Susana C.; Hammerschmidt, MaikPurpose This work investigates how different strategies for providing cues about the non-human identity of a sales agent influence consumers’ perceptions and purchase-related outcomes, and how a social interaction style shapes these responses. Additionally, the authors explore the role of consumers’ speciesism against non-human entities in eliciting unfavourable responses to the disclosure of the agent’s artificial nature. Design/methodology/approach Three experimental studies were conducted using real chatbot interactions. Study 1 investigates how non-human identity cues impact consumer trust and, subsequently, attitude towards the firm and intention to purchase the product offered. Study 2 tests these effects across different levels of social presence. Study 3 examines consumer responses to different non-human identity disclosure strategies, considering speciesism’s moderating role. Findings Study 1 proves that disclosing (vs not disclosing) the artificial nature of a sales agent leads to a decline in trust towards the firm, which in turn negatively influences both attitude towards the firm and purchase intention. This finding reveals discrimination against disclosed (vs non-disclosed) artificial sales agents despite identical, flawless performance. However, Study 2 proves that the negative effects vanish when perceived social presence is high. Study 3 underlines that high speciesism leads to a trust decline if non-human identity cues are presented during the interaction but not if presented earlier in the journey before the interaction. Research limitations/implications The study highlights the negative effects of disclosure on important, firm-related outcomes. These insights advance current literature by showing that disclosing cues about the non-human nature of a sales agent can undermine psychological and behavioural responses–even when the disclosed agent performs just as effectively as its undisclosed counterpart. This result is noteworthy, as most prior research has linked aversive reactions to artificial agents with situations in which algorithms underperform, whereas this study examines agents that function flawlessly. Furthermore, the study reveals that these adverse effects are driven by speciesism–prejudices against non-human entities–offering a novel explanation for consumers’ negative responses. Practical implications The findings stress that transparency about the artificial nature of sales agents is penalised by customers and comes at a high cost for business-relevant outcomes. However, by transforming an artificial agent into a social actor through subtle design modifications, firms can overcome the unfavourable prejudice against artificial agents. By creating a social appearance, firms can harness the potential of automated sales services–even when disclosure of the agent’s artificial identity is required. As firms may soon be obliged to disclose the artificial identity of their sales agents, the critical question shifts from whether to disclose to how to disclose in order to mitigate negative consequences. Finally, we offer guidance on targeting the right consumers with artificial agents–specifically, those with lower levels of speciesism-related prejudices. Originality/value This work addresses pressing issues for managers concerned with the implementation of artificial sales agents. Results extend knowledge on speciesism towards digital agents, inform which consumers are particularly prone to respond negatively to such agents, and present levers for designing chat-based social interactions that prevent non-human-related prejudices that could undermine the effectiveness of conversational technologies.
- PortugalPublication . Feliciano, Diana; Mendes, AméricoThe evidence provided in this report shows that the Portuguese forest sector has been responsive to demands for its products, not only timber, but also cork and some other non wood forest goods and services. The area of forests almost tripled since the mid of the 1990s and the main cause of this has been that response to market conditions. Given the very high salience of private ownership, private forest owners played a major role in that response, even when there were no supported public policies, which was the case until the 1980s. Private forest owners obviously have not been alone in making up these adjustments to demand. Forest industries have been the essential connecting link between the forests and the final consumers, either in the domestic markets, or abroad. The first jump in expanding the forest resource base was the installation of the cork oak stands in the southern regions, mostly from the mid of the XIXth century until the mid of the XXth century. This was and still remains an export oriented business. It has successfully resisted the arrival of plastics, and is now facing new forms of competition from this material. Again this competition is meeting an active response from the industry and the forest owners, but a lot is still undecided about the end of this game. Pulp and paper is another story of creation of a new forest resource base and a new industry oriented essentially towards exports. Like in the case of cork, the quality of the product has been generally good, but here also new threats are arising. The resource base of the industry is under increasing risk of forest fires and the fundamentals of the Portuguese economy, in recent years, are not favouring exporting business. The wood based panel industry is another case where the forest resources built up by private forestry during the last one hundred years were able to trigger and sustain industrial conglomerates of large international scope. Nowadays the leading group in the world in this industry is Portuguese. The tree species at the base of this industry is maritime pine. This is the species which has been suffering most with forest fires and this is not good news for the industry. However, entrepreneurs here have been able to evolve towards other products and other markets. The rest of the forest industries (sawmilling, carpentry and furniture) are essentially made of small, even very small enterprises relying almost entirely on the domestic market. Rising real incomes and lower real interest rates, until the turn of the century helped these activities. These favourable conditions stopped to hold at the same time as the exposure to foreign competition became more intense. The strong dependence of these industries on the macroeconomic situation of the country is now pushing them towards improvements in labour productivity, at lower levels of employment.
- Higher social class is associated with higher contextualized emotion recognition accuracy across culturesPublication . Kafetsios, Konstantinos; Hess, Ursula; Alonso-Arbiol, Itziar; Schütz, Astrid; Gruda, Dritjon; Campbell, Kelly; Chen , Bin-Bin; Dostal, Daniel; Held, Marco J.; Hypsova, Petra; Kamble, Shanmukh; Kimura, Takuma; Kirchner-Häusler, Alexander; Kyvelea, Marina; Livi, Stefano; Mandal, Eugenia; Ochnik, Dominika; Papageorgakopoulos, Nektarios; Seitl, Martin; Sakman, Ezgi; Sumer, Nebi; Sulejmanov, Filip; Theodorou, Annalisa; Uskul, Ayse K.We tested links between social status and emotion recognition accuracy (ERA) with participants from a diverse array of cultures and a new model and method of ERA, the Assessment of Contextualized Emotion (ACE), which incorporates social context and is linked to different types of social interaction across cultures. Participants from the Czech Republic (Study 1) and from 12 cultural groups in Europe, North America, and Asia (Study 2) completed a short version of the ACE, a self-construal scale, and the MacArthur Subjective Social Status (SSS) scale. In both studies, higher SSS was associated with more accuracy. In Study 2, this relationship was mediated by higher independent self-construal and moderated by countries’ long-term orientation and relational mobility. The findings suggest that the positive association between higher social class and emotion recognition accuracy is due to the use of agentic modes of socio-cognitive reasoning by higher status individuals. This raises new questions regarding the socio-cultural ecologies that afford this relationship.
- Are morally courageous leaders more effective?Publication . Rego, Arménio; Simpson, Ace Volkmann; Bluhm, Dustin J.; Cunha, Miguel Pina eDetecting, interpreting, assuming responsibility, and being driven to act upon situations with potential ethical implications requires morally courageous leaders to be continuously ‘tuned’ to the environment. We argue that this ‘tuning’ facilitates leader respect for employees and greater receptiveness to their inputs, and that it is through these mechanisms that leader moral courage is positively related to leader effectiveness. In a multi-source study involving 102 team leaders (assessed by peers, subordinates, and supervisors), we found that leaders with higher levels of moral courage convey greater respect for team members and are more receptive to relational transparency from them, and that such respect and receptiveness enhance leader effectiveness. We also hypothesized and found that leaders who overestimate their moral courage (i.e., who self-describe as being morally courageous while others perceive them as not being so) are particularly less respectful toward team members, and thus are less effective.
- Leader expressed humility: a meta-analysis and an agenda for future researchPublication . Silard, Anthony; Miao, Chao; Rego, Arménio; Akkan, Eren; Yoon, David; Qian, ShanshanThis study meta-analyzes the empirical evidence on the topic of leader humility. Our findings suggest that leader humility makes unique contributions to explaining key followers’ outcomes beyond those provided by transformational leadership. We also find significant overlap between leader humility and authentic leadership, yet leader humility has incremental validity in predicting several outcomes. We analyze two theoretically driven moderators: individualism vs. collectivism, and high- vs. low- religiosity, and find that both emerge as moderating the relationships between leader humility and several outcomes. These findings suggest that when constructs such as leader-expressed humility, dispositional humility, honesty-humility, and humility as a component of servant leadership are conflated under the expression “leader humility”, the granularities inherent to each one of these constructs are hidden, with negative consequences for the validity of the empirical landscape. We conclude with theoretical implications of our meta-analysis for the leader humility literature and make suggestions for future research.