Reach magazine - September 2023

Full story page 10

The role of the banking system in preserving biodiversity

A message from our School Dean

Welcome to the latest edition of Reach, our magazine that showcases the latest research and insights from Newcastle University Business School.

Professor Stewart Robinson Dean and Professor of Operational Research Newcastle University Business School

Since joining Newcastle University Business School in July 2022, I’ve been hugely impressed by the commitment, hard work and expertise of our staff, and the drive and dedication to create a rich environment for all our stakeholders, whether that’s our colleagues, learners, communities, partners, alumni or businesses across the globe.

The content in this publication is an illustration of the great work being carried out in the School. Indeed, we are tackling a broad range of global and societal issues. This includes diversity in the workforce, shining a spotlight on neurodiversity, exploring how political bias can influence social behaviour, the importance of shopping local, and so much more.

As a world-leading, triple-accredited business school, we are aiming to create a better, more responsible, inclusive, and just future for all. In doing so, we are working to respond to global and societal challenges for which we seek to develop creative and innovative solutions. Because the business, economic and societal landscape is changing so rapidly, we too need to be agile in adapting our research, scholarship and education to the latest needs. We achieve this by drawing upon our evolving expertise to address the core challenges of the day in a collaborative environment.

I hope you enjoy discovering more about the work being undertaken within the School. ■

As a world-leading, triple-accredited business school, we are aiming to create a better, more responsible, inclusive, and just future for all.

In this issue

How political bias can influence social behaviour

Promoting neurodiversity to address the global mental health crisis

The role

of

the banking system in preserving biodiversity

22.

What we can learn from the economic modelling of British trade from 1872–1938

Staff wellbeing is key to social enterprise success

Shop local, shop small

Language diversity: a double-edged sword

Spotlight on: Our PhD students

6.

18.

10.

12.

24.

The Pop-Up

16.

28.

How political bias can influence social behaviour

Featured article

In a ground-breaking study, we investigate whether political campaigning can influence the behaviour of law enforcement officers, and whether this change disproportionately affects minority groups.

The Author

Dr Diego Zambiasi Lecturer in Economics Newcastle University Business School View profile

“By striving to eradicate white supremacy and address violence directed at black communities by both the state and vigilantes, the BLM movement has influenced public perception regarding law enforcement agencies. Over the past decade, the movement’s work has significantly contributed to directing focus towards the potential biases that may exist within law enforcement practices and has fostered increased awareness and empathy towards ethnic minority groups.”

The study examines the complex relationship between political campaigning, racial discrimination, and arrests for drugs in the United States of America during the 1980s. During that time, the War on Drugs campaign became increasingly popular, fuelled by strong political rhetoric against the use of drugs – particularly crack cocaine.

As part of the study, researchers analysed more than 11,000 official documents to generate a novel measure of the intensity of the presidential rhetoric against drug abuse by running a topic model analysis of the public papers of the presidents at the time: first Ronald Reagan, then George H W Bush. Researchers then tracked the monthly arrests for possession of cocaine and heroin for 1,383 police agencies in 40 US states from January 1984 to December 1990.

Racial inequalities and the way they have been portrayed in the media are the focus for this study and a hot topic of debate among politicians, academics and the general public. Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old black man, died in January 2023 after he was kicked, hit with a baton and struck with a stun gun by police officers during a traffic stop in Memphis. The incident made international news and threw the behaviour of law enforcement agencies towards black and ethnic minorities into sharper focus.

The role of the media

Author of the study, Dr Diego Zambiasi explains: “There has been a lot of discussion recently on the topic of racial inequalities, and how these inequalities have been highlighted and perceived by society. There is a consensus that political discourse and the media have played a large part in shaping these discussions.

“The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has played a pivotal role in drawing attention to the potential biases present in the actions of law enforcement officers.

Political rhetoric uncovers racial bias

The findings show the presidential rhetoric against drug abuse did influence law enforcement behaviour in this period. In counties that were more exposed to political campaigning, there was a 7% increase in arrests of black people for possession of crack cocaine but no change at all for white people. This indicates there was racial bias in the behaviour of law enforcement officers, a bias that was exacerbated by political campaigning and subsequent media coverage of the issue.

Dr Zambiasi says: “Interestingly, when considering the exposure to the presidential rhetoric against drug abuse, we did not find any effect on arrests for other types of crime that are normally associated with the consumption of crack cocaine, such as murder and robberies, nor on arrests for other types of drugs.

“This finding confirms that our results are not driven by an increase in consumption of crack cocaine, but by a change in law enforcement behaviour.

In counties that were more exposed to political campaigning, there was a 7% increase in arrests of black people for possession of crack cocaine but no change at all for white people.

“At the heart of our study is the concept of social and political bias. We wanted to find out the extent to which political campaigning could influence the actions and perceptions of law enforcement officers and the general public. The answer is: quite a lot. The anti-drug rhetoric espoused by the US presidents at the time led many people to associate crack cocaine with black people and steered the action of law enforcement officers.

“More broadly, our study shows that bias and rhetoric can have a major influence on social behaviour – sometimes triggering unwanted social movements and criminal behaviour.

We saw this most recently in the Capitol Hill attack, during which a mob of Donald Trump supporters attacked the Capitol building in Washington DC after Trump lost the 2020 US presidential elections. This is a clear example of how citizens, ignited by harsh political campaigning, can resort to violence.

“Social bias and racial inequality are very topical issues today. In Italy, politicians are talking about ethnic substitution; in the UK, illegal immigration is high on the political agenda. It’s therefore vital that the general public are aware of the potential biases that this political rhetoric can cause.”

Food for thought

Dr Zambiasi continued: “One of the key takeaways from our study is the need for people to do their own research and think for themselves. They should make informed decisions based on fact rather than just believing the political spin, as many people in the UK might have done when voting for Brexit in 2016.”

Dr Zambiasi believes that his research could encourage politicians to consider the implications of their rhetoric. It could also assist policymakers tasked with managing the education system to help the public get a fairer picture of what is going on in society.

He continues: “This study shows that politicians need to carefully consider the potentially discriminatory implications of their policy platform. Our results are specific to the political situation in the US in the 1980s, but still provide general insights on how a tough-on-crime rhetoric and political platform can contribute to exacerbating racial inequalities. These findings are particularly relevant in the current policy debate, especially with respect to the recent attacks on Capitol Hill and the protests by the Black Lives Matter movement.

“We’re all biased until someone tells us that we are, and we start working on it. More has been done to shed light on societal bias and I think now people are more willing to question what is said, particularly by people in positions of power, such as politicians. Now we tackle bias more explicitly than we did in the past. This has a wider impact in that it can affect who we decide to arrest, marry, vote for and work for, and what happens in the workplace, for example.” ■

We’re all biased until someone tells us that we are, and we start working on it. More has been done to shed light on societal bias and I think now people are more willing to question what is said.

The role of the banking system in preserving biodiversity

Comment piece

If we are to protect and preserve biodiversity, we need banks to invest in projects that promote biodiversity. The development of a new index that will assess if biodiversity is at risk can help banks operate in ways that support this purpose.

The Author

Dr Nikolaos Papanikolaou Senior Lecturer in Finance Newcastle University Business School

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Bank financing in the below activities can harm biodiversity and distort the fragile balance in critical ecosystems:

• ill-conceived infrastructure development

• improper land use changes

fossil fuel energy development

• monoculture agricultural production

It is fundamental for banks to cease extending credit to investment projects that can threaten biodiversity. Such projects can, amongst other things, negatively affect indigenous and traditional local communities, harm wilderness areas, and fragment critical ecosystems.

Analyse and measure

To preserve and promote biodiversity, it is a prerequisite to analyse how banks can develop biodiversity-friendly credit products and financing instruments. Banks must acquire the necessary tools to help them measure the impact of their financing activities on biodiversity and to set solid targets to reduce this impact.

In this context, banks must understand how to integrate natural resource management and natural capital allocation into their investment strategies. More specifically, they must effectively link bank credit to the concept of biodiversity. This implies that some common standards should be put in place along with a shared understanding of what the underlying biodiversity assets are, what they represent in respect to the natural capital and resources, and what their estimated monetary values are (ie biodiversity must be ‘monetised’).

A financing index

In one of my current research projects, I propose the construction of a biodiversityfriendly financing index, which accounts for all the various factors such as:

• destruction of local habitats water use

• species diversity

• ecological stability, and others which are all related to unsustainable, extractive and socially harmful activities that can threaten biodiversity and cause potential damage to critical ecosystems.

This is a composite index, which is based on individually weighted factors through the development of dynamic optimisation algorithms. The proposed index will reflect the assessment of the biodiversity risk of an investment project within a dynamically changing environment: the higher the value of the index, the higher the risk and vice versa. In other words, the index is built upon a mathematical programming technique that looks for the minimum risk path.

My research is expected to deliver an integrated tool for banks and create a new paradigm in the field of financing biodiversityfriendly investment projects to promote social and environmental justice.

The proposed weighted composite index can be used as a part of the green and responsible banking strategies that most of the banks around the globe have lately adopted. The Financial Technology (FinTech) industry can also employ the index to harness digital technologies to embrace biodiversity conservation projects.

The challenges today’s banking system faces from a societal perspective are unprecedented. Banks must ensure they align with environmental and social values and demonstrate global responsibility. They must evolve their business models to incorporate sustainability, social justice, equality and respect to local communities and individuals.

To become a champion for people and the planet, reaching a sustainable future that is built to last; and deliver on the responsible banking principles to change the world for everyone. ■

Banks must acquire the necessary tools to help them measure the impact of their financing activities on biodiversity and to set solid targets to reduce this impact.

Staff wellbeing is key to social enterprise success

Featured article

Our latest research explores the realities for staff working in social enterprises who often feel unfulfilled despite their dedication. We explore their subjective experiences which can leave them questioning the impact of their work and explore how better understanding wellbeing can support staff retention as well as the organisation’s goals.

The Author

Dr Wee Chan Au Lecturer in Management Practice Newcastle University Business School

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Most people go to work with the intention of improving the organisation that employs them. However, new research has revealed staff who work in social enterprises feel unfulfilled even though they’re trying their best to have a positive effect on the organisation and the world around them.

Desire to make a difference

Our study, conducted in collaboration with King’s College London, UK and Citrine Capital in Selangor, Malaysia, shows that individuals start and join social enterprises to achieve some social good, but may not subjectively experience their work as impactful. It analyses how they question the effectiveness of their work and how they engage in sensemaking practices to feel a sense of achievement.

The findings highlight the importance of staff wellbeing in social enterprises. They raise the question of whether these organisations can achieve their goals if they have difficulty in recruiting and retaining satisfied workers.

One of the authors of the report, Dr Wee Chan Au, a lecturer in Management Practice at Newcastle University Business School, says: “Social enterprises are businesses that are established to tackle social problems, improve communities, provide access to employment and training, or to help the environment. In essence, they exist to achieve social, environmental or community benefits.

“However, a lot of people get excited about the idea of working for a social enterprise, but end up disappointed. They don’t experience the positive vibes that they wanted to feel when they first joined the organisation. Against this background, we wanted to explore how members of social enterprises maintain their subjective experiences of impactful work.”

Refocusing research into social enterprises

Dr Au explains: “Most existing research on social enterprises has focused on the workings of the organisation itself. Our research focuses more on the people behind it and the sense of meaningfulness and fulfilment they get from working there.

“There have been many examples of how to build a good social enterprise model, but less emphasis on the importance of staff wellbeing. Nobody has educated staff on how to take care of themselves and that’s what our research is trying to highlight.”

Most existing research on social enterprises has focused on the workings of the organisation itself. Our research focuses more on the people behind it and the sense of meaningfulness and fulfilment they get from working there.

Dr Au’s research investigates the experiences of staff in two Malaysian social enterprises: one that’s trying to combat climate change and another that’s tackling the refugee crisis.

Staff impact in doubt

The research explored the experiences of people who work in these social enterprises via a series of structured interviews (77 in total). The findings show they questioned the impact of their work when experiencing ambiguity, when they didn’t receive cues that confirmed they were having a positive impact.

They also reported a discrepancy between anticipated and experienced impact, caused by receiving cues confirming they were having a negative effect or not having a positive impact. In other words, the research participants thought their work was having less of an effect than they had originally anticipated.

The research goes on to uncover two ways in which staff made sense of the impact of their work. Sometimes they internalised their work to address ambiguity; on other occasions, they engaged in the act of compensating to tackle discrepancy.

Dr Au explains: “When individuals perceived impact as invisible or slow to manifest, they internalised to create a feeling that their work was still worthwhile.

“To give an example of this, some of the interviewees encouraged themselves to accept that it takes time for their work to have a useful impact and for the organisation to achieve social good. Another interviewee said that just because she couldn’t see the impact she was having, this didn’t mean she wasn’t helping the organisation to make a positive difference.

“The practice of compensating to tackle discrepancy requires the creation of new interpretations that highlight how staff are having broader impact beyond the walls of the organisation. This could involve the pursuit of novel activities to support a wider range of beneficiaries, for example.

“Some interviewees said that their work’s effect on refugees was only one aspect of how they could make a difference; they acknowledged that supporting one another also brought benefits even though that wasn’t the primary aim of the organisation. Another said that educating family members about refugees was an alternative way to feel that their work is impactful in increasing awareness about the refugee crisis.”

Implications for social enterprises

The findings have serious implications for social enterprises and the staff who work within them.

Dr Au says: “Founders of social enterprises need to understand and acknowledge the wellbeing of their workforce. Staff go through a lot of emotional labour when working for this type of organisation; dealing with underprivileged people and hardship can take its toll emotionally. Some staff are not equipped to deal with this, so perhaps more wellbeing training is needed for social enterprise workforces.

“Poor mental health also has an adverse effect on the organisation itself. It’s difficult to run a sustainable business if staff are unhappy. This can lead to a high staff turnover and it then takes time to train new workers to get them up to speed with the aims and mission of the organisation. Many social enterprises have limited resources and don’t have much time to train new recruits to the required standard.

“To keep staff motivated, managers need to reinforce the goals of the organisation and communicate this to the workforce on a regular basis. They need to reinforce the positive impact that staff are having by quantifying the wider benefits of their work –telling them how many refugees they’ve assisted, for example. This can help staff measure the impact of their work in understandable terms. Managers should also define the role of each employee and how it fits with the organisation’s overall mission.

“Our research also shows that staff can help themselves by using different tactics to remain motivated, such as visiting the beneficiaries of their work, educating others about their work or acknowledging that even small tasks contribute to the wider aims of the organisation.” ■

Founders of social enterprises need to understand and acknowledge the wellbeing of their workforce. Staff go through a lot of emotional labour when working for this type of organisation.

Shop local, shop small

Comment piece

We are urged to ‘shop local’ and ‘shop small’, but how do we find local designer-makers, artists and creatives that we want to buy from? We explore the outcomes of a recent participatory research project focusing on equipping artists, designer-makers and creatives with the retail skills necessary to become more visible.

The Pop-Up

The Author

Dr Fiona Whitehurst

Senior Lecturer in Management and Associate Dean Engagement and Place Newcastle University Business School

View profile

Participatory research involves researchers and community participants working together to understand a problem of mutual interest. This strengthens research outcomes by recognising the experience, needs and preferences of the participants from outside academia, giving them greater agency to implement research findings.

Pop-ups for small, local businesses

In a recent collaboration with North East England small business owners, Corinne Lewis-Ward and Ann English, we ran a participatory research project to investigate how local artists, designer-makers and creatives can be more visible to consumers through the use of pop-up shops.

A pop-up is defined as “a temporary shop, stall or brand experience used to sell goods and services for a limited period of time.”(1)

Corinne is a designer herself and wanted to understand how pop-up initiatives could be used more effectively by small, creative businesses. Ann is a specialist in pop-up training, and together they approached Newcastle University Business School to develop the idea for the Pop-up Primer Programme.

A robust pop-up model

Through this collaboration, we conducted participatory research to understand what a robust and innovative model of pop-up provision might look like. This included the following activities:

• co-designing a survey to elicit the views of designer-makers, artists and creatives regarding pop-ups

• designing and testing the Pop-up Primer Programme, comprising a series of skillbuilding workshops, with a cohort of designer-makers, artists and creatives

• conducting consumer research regarding pop-ups and shopping local

During the first iterations of our Pop-up Primer Programme in 2022, the workshops were mainly held in the pop-up shop, Sook, in the Metrocentre, where we undertook some consumer research that found:

• 95% of respondents agreed that pop-ups like this would make them more likely to visit the Metrocentre

• 100% of respondents agreed that it felt good to buy from small, local businesses

• 92.5% of respondents agreed that they liked to tell their friends and family that they bought from a local business.

The next phase

Following the initial Pop-up Primer Programme, we secured funding from Creative Central, funded by the North of Tyne Combined Authority and Newcastle City Council, to run a new, more in-depth programme called Commercialise without Compromise.

The programme workshops are delivered by local creatives and include a mix of the original workshops plus extra activities to help participants promote their products. The programme has been developed based on Corinne’s lived experience of being a creative and our consumer research which highlighted:

• 62.5% of respondents wanted to know about the person they are buying from

• 30% of respondents would have liked to have met the person they are buying from

• 50% of respondents said they would buy a handcrafted product without being able to see the product ‘in real life’.

However, only 63% of respondents said they knew how and where to buy from local creative businesses. The main goal of both our programmes is to provide skills to local artists, makers and creatives to get their products in front of consumers.

From our research, we know we are providing valuable skills for creatives and there is consumer demand for collective pop-ups featuring local creative businesses in prime retail locations. However, questions remain:

• What is the business model? Is there a role for local authorities, centre owners, department stores?

• How do you select, curate and vet businesses? How do you deal with issues of control? Is there a role for pop-up intermediaries?

Our research continues with a view to answering these questions and supporting the local creative community. We will be hosting a pop-up event at Grainger Market in Newcastle to enable further consumer research and showcase the talents of our participants. ■

Promoting neurodiversity to address the global mental health crisis

Featured article

Our goal in a world grappling with a mental health crisis, is to destigmatise and normalise the conversation around mental differences. Embracing the concept of neurodiversity, our research looks at how our newly developed segmentation tool can help organisations to revolutionise their marketing and communications strategies by prioritising their teams’ and customers’ mental health and wellbeing.

Mental health and neurodiversity

In 2013, the World Health Organization launched a global mental health action plan in response to a mental health crisis which has worsened since the pandemic. The plan recommends ‘whole-of-society’ approaches to prevent mental illness. Neurodiversity is not a mental illness, but stigmatisation of mental differences can lead to mental illness. Awareness of neurodiversity is growing, but there is little research into how neurodiverse people can participate in the mental health conversation.

Newcastle University Business School has developed a segmentation tool based on a

study of people affected by neurodiversity in some way. The aim is to assist in marketing and communications strategies around the mental health conversation. The conclusions could:

• make poor mental health more visible in society and the workplace

• help companies re-evaluate how they market products and services to neurodivergent people

• support employers to improve the wellbeing of neurodivergent staff

Josephine Go Jefferies, project lead, says:

“It would be great if we could think about mental illness as affecting everyone either directly or indirectly, and that means finding solutions to prevent them are universally relevant.”

One in four people experience mental illness in their lifetime. This may be due to grief, trauma, or illness associated with different life stages like ageing, pregnancy or menopause.

It is estimated that 70% of people who need help for mental illnesses are untreated, potentially due to fear of stigma from being labelled as mentally ill. The concept of neurodiversity may help to normalise mental differences and reduce reluctance to seek help early.

“Neurodiversity recognises the differences in individual brain function affecting behaviour. It includes neurological conditions such as autism, dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which are estimated to affect 20% of the UK adult population.”

Dr Go Jefferies continues: “Neurodiverse individuals bring many strengths to the workplace. What if businesses could be part of the mental health solution by destigmatising mental differences and supporting people to flourish even when they are experiencing difficulties?

“We wanted to explore how businesses strategically target, recruit and support neurodiverse workforces and customers, and how this could improve competitive advantage.

“We were also keen to highlight how a better understanding of neurodiversity and its benefits could help to reduce stigma affecting people with a range of neurological conditions.”

Online conversations

Dr Go Jefferies and her colleague and co-author of the study, Dr Wasim Ahmed, analysed Twitter data over three months, comprising 300+ online conversations made up of 71,553 tweets with the hashtag #neurodiversity.

She explains: “The conversations were varied. Some highlighted role models, traits and symptoms, others were negative and highlighted stigmas. Only a few global business leaders tweeted positively about how neurodiverse people could be an asset to companies. Some companies, particularly those in the creative industry, tweeted that there were positive reasons for employing neurodiverse people because they can bring fresh ideas and increase corporate productivity.”

It is estimated that 70% of people who need help for mental illnesses are untreated, potentially due to fear of stigma from being labelled as mentally ill. The concept of neurodiversity may help to normalise mental differences and reduce reluctance to seek help early.

The Author

Dr Josephine Go Jefferies

Senior Lecturer in Marketing Newcastle University Business School

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Five perspectives on neurodiversity

From the research, the authors identified five perspectives on neurodiversity according to how threatened people felt by the term neurodiversity, ie whether they felt talking about neurodiversity would improve the mental health conversation or would make their current situation worse. The five segments are:

1. Scouted talents – who emerge when a business views neurodiversity positively. These people are targeted by neurodiverse-aware businesses to achieve strategic objectives including competitiveness, diversity and inclusion.

2. Masked crusaders – identify as neurodiverse but are hidden in the workforce and market because they fear disclosure risks being misunderstood. They believe everyone’s brain works differently and use activism to change society.

3. Activism inclineds – might be neurodiverse, or are allies – parents, partners or children of those who are. They are aware of problems experienced by neurodiverse people and are sympathetic to the aims of a neurodiversity movement calling for social change, but are uncertain how to achieve it.

4. Castaways – interested in conditions covered by neurodiversity but are otherwise disengaged with the topic.

5. Healthists – feel threatened by the neurodiversity label because it doesn’t include people with more severe conditions and diverts attention and resources away from those most in need of help.

The research presented some useful findings for businesses, neurodiversity activists, neurodivergent people and the medical profession.

Dr Go Jefferies explains: “Businesses that raise awareness of neurodiversity can improve their teams’ and customers’ mental health and wellbeing.

“Businesses could use our classifications to explore how they are addressing people affected by neurodiversity and their use of appropriate language and messaging. This could lead to further investigation of how they treat neurodivergent workers and how they are marketing their products and services. After all, one in five people display neurodiverse traits: a significant proportion of a company’s potential customer base.

“Our study shows that using Twitter provides insights into experiences of potentially nonverbal, misunderstood consumers to help identify new markets for specialist products and services.”

Utilising the findings

The research also highlighted how important it is for businesses to consider neurodiversity when hiring.

Dr Go Jefferies said: “Businesses should think about how they create job adverts, how they treat neurodiverse people in interviews and how they get the best out of them once recruited. Employers also need to re-evaluate work practices in light of neurodiversity.

“Employers could rethink workspaces and flexible working as they could impact the mental health of neurodiverse workers who may prefer flexible, hybrid working, or adapting the structure of the office environment.”

The study could also help healthcare professionals to re-evaluate how they communicate.

Dr Go Jefferies suggested: “Health services are resource constrained and people are feeling unsupported. Health experts have highlighted increased demand for ADHD services, but the current provision is inadequate. There are also insufficient experienced clinicians to give the right care to those in need. It could be costly for individuals, workplaces and the economy if people struggle to be accurately diagnosed and treated.

“Through growing awareness of neurodiversity, we could be moving towards a more caring and supportive society. Increasingly, ADHD and autism are being viewed as a gift rather than a disorder, but much more work needs to be done. Can we collectively prevent the occurrence of serious mental illness by accepting neurodiversity as a social norm?” ■

Businesses that raise awareness of neurodiversity can improve their teams’ and customers’ mental health and wellbeing. Businesses could use our classifications to explore how they are addressing people affected by neurodiversity and their use of appropriate language and messaging.

What we can learn from the economic modelling of British trade from 1872–1938

In conversation

Newcastle University Business School Economics graduate, Robert Mitchell, sits down with his Academic Supervisor and Lecturer in Economics, Dr Brian Varian. They discuss Dr Varian’s research into economic history, with a keen focus on British trade, and explore the significant role its history has played in shaping the economic landscape.

The Author

Dr Brian Varian

Lecturer in Economics

Newcastle University Business School

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Interview by Robert Mitchell Economics BSc graduate (2023)

RM: What’s your area of research expertise?

BV: It’s broadly economic history, and more specifically, Britain’s overseas trade between roughly 1870 to 1938.

In the UK, there is a distinguished tradition of research in economic history. Early on, economic historians in the UK devoted a lot of attention to the subject of British trade in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, after the 1970s, it became a less popular topic among economic historians.

Those economic historians who originally researched in this area didn’t use econometrics to answer important questions about British trade in the late 19th century and interwar era.

What I’ve done is revisit several old debates, but with the toolkit of an economist who is using quantification and econometrics. This can lead to very different interpretations of history than those previously put forward.

RM: What are you currently exploring?

BV: Trade within the British Empire, including Britain and the self-governing Dominions. These Dominions had autonomy with respect to trade policy, so there is immense scope for analysis.

My co-author and I are currently looking at the impact of Canada’s preferential trade policy, adopted in 1897, on its imports from Britain. There was a substantial impact of this policy, which contrasts with what I found in the analogous case of New Zealand, which too began to extend tariff preferences to imports from Britain, but somewhat later, in 1903.

RM: What are the parallels between trade then and now?

BV: In the late 1880s and early 1890s, almost all European countries, as well as many others, raised their tariff rates in quick succession, while Britain remained intellectually and practically committed to free trade. However, foreign tariffs severely dampened the growth of Britain’s exports.

Using original data not previously analysed econometrically, I found British exports were elastic to these foreign tariffs, whereas previous scholars doubted this. But what’s interesting, and in a way, relevant for today, is that British exports of cotton textiles had a quite high elasticity.

This is problematic because, in the late 19th century, roughly 40% of British exports were cotton textiles. The high degree of concentration in cotton textiles, coupled with the high elasticity of this commodity to foreign tariffs, left Britain’s export sector particularly vulnerable to changes in foreign trade policy.

Today, it would be a concern for countries to be overly specialised in exporting a narrow range of goods or, as is more common today, services. If exports become overly concentrated in a small number of industries, the UK is left exposed to industry-specific foreign trade policies. We can reflect on trade history regarding over-specialisation within the export basket.

RM: What are the contrasts between globalisation and deglobalisation?

BV: When we talk about deglobalisation, we’re talking about the disintegration of the world economy in various economic areas such as investment, migration and trade.

Trade is probably the economic activity most associated with deglobalisation or globalisation. There was deglobalisation in the early 20th century and, arguably, there is deglobalisation today.

Among economic historians, it had conventionally been thought that Britain deglobalised very sharply during the Great Depression, with the Import Duties Act of 1932. Britain had been the vanguard of free trade. Then, in 1932, Britain introduced tariffs and developed a preferential trading bloc with its Empire. 1932 was seen as a watershed year in British economic policy because there was this sudden shift.

My research, however, broadly supports the contention that deglobalisation was a more gradual development, occurring over about 30 years, rather than a sharp and unanticipated break in 1932 – it was a slower-developing phenomenon.

If economists and policymakers today want to identify an episode in which countries are raising their tariff rates in a large-scale manner (ie not just on one or two commodities here and there), it is necessary that they look to history because we simply don’t have recent examples.

When it comes to broad policy developments throughout the world, we must inevitably take an historical perspective. ■

Language diversity: a double-edged sword

Featured article

Having a diverse workforce can bring many advantages but challenges can arise when managers don’t understand the emotional attachment people have with their own language and dialect. In a new study, we explore how organisations can better understand the effect of cultural and linguistic biases in the workplace.

The Author

Dr Komal Kalra Lecturer in International Management

Newcastle University Business School

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In a recent study, Dr Komal Kalra from Newcastle University Business School and her co-author Dr Mike Szymanski from Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO explored how language diversity influences interpersonal relationships in multinational and national multilingual teams.

Considerations for managers

The research has implications for managers who want to get the best out of multilingual teams to boost staff morale and corporate productivity. It also highlights a need for more training provision to help managers better understand the effect of cultural and linguistic biases in the workplace.

Dr Komal Kalra says: “The management of linguistically diverse teams has become a critical focus of international business research in recent years. Such teams can enhance innovation, improve decision-making and problem-solving and accelerate the pace of organisational change.

“Nevertheless, to take advantage of the benefits arising from employing diverse teams, organisations must understand the challenges that arise when individuals from different backgrounds work together. In this respect, research on multilingual teams has shown that teams comprised of individuals from different nationalities could face communication, emotional or leadership challenges.”

Starting with personal experiences

Dr Kalra’s research has also been informed and enriched by personal experience.

She explains: “I grew up in Punjab, in north west India, and I moved all over the country as a young adult. For my first job, worked in Hyderabad and discovered that nobody understood Hindi! It took me until the age of 21 to realise that there were more than 20 official languages in India.

“A lot of existing literature assumes that emerging economies have homogeneous workforces. However, research tells us that there’s often a division between people who speak different languages, and people tend to gravitate towards those who speak the same language. That also happens at the level of dialect. People might speak the same language, but they tend to form clusters with people who speak the same dialect as them.”

“When I first started my research in 2016, I wanted to know how language diversity impacts people working in teams and how this affects leadership and corporate productivity.”

The impact of language diversity on interpersonal relationships

Dr Kalra’s study examined the impact of language diversity on interpersonal relationships in multinational and national teams in a multilingual country, India. She studied two companies: one was a multinational US-headquartered company with a base in India; the other was an Indiaheadquartered company. Both had multilingual teams.

Dr Kalra observed 12 project teams across both companies, all of whom were based in India. Thirty-six interviews were conducted with three people from each project team across the two companies. The aim was to analyse the relationships between people who spoke the same or different languages, and how their managers were able to detect and remedy faultlines – in other words, a divisive issue or difference of opinion that could cause problems between members of staff within the teams.

She says: “Using direct observations and semi-structured interviews, we conducted a thematic analysis and found that native language-based faultlines and groups existed in both teams in each company. However, such faultlines and languagebased groups can disintegrate into smaller, regional dialect-based subgroups due to the emergence of dialect faultlines.

“These findings have implications for companies that are responsible for managing such diverse teams. We found that multilingual leaders are more effective as boundary spanners – those who can get the most out of staff who speak different languages and dialects – in multinational project teams (MPTs) than in national project teams (NPTs) that consist of people from the same country.

“Our research indicates that managers of MPTs are more effective in helping disparate groups to become closer and establishing trust. But in NPTs, we found that multilingual managers didn’t really understand the nuances of dialect and cultural differences, which led to tensions between some members of the team.

Having a diverse workforce can bring many advantages but managers must be aware of the issues caused by differences in native

language and dialect.

“This can have implications on a practical level. For example, there may be delays in advantages but managers must be aware accomplishing work tasks when dealing with of the issues caused by differences in native people with different languages. There may also be communication issues with clients or tensions between managers and staff.

“All of this suggests that more training is needed. Our research showed that MPTs had received training to deal with lingual differences whereas NPTs had not. A lack of training could lead to more faultlines within teams and a lack of corporate productivity.”

Considerations for native language and regional dialects

A practical implication of Dr Kalra’s findings is the acknowledgement of linguistic differences within one-nation teams that outwardly seem linguistically homogeneous.

She says: “Even when all teammates have a strong grasp of the common language, managers must address the potential faultlines caused by various native tongues and/or distinct regional dialects, which may potentially lead to mistrust and bias and hinder efficient team functioning. It’s imperative for managers to understand and acknowledge the distinction and relationship between language diversity and language or dialectbased faultlines to address the conflicts and tensions brewing among the various subgroups.

“Having a diverse workforce can bring many

language and dialect, and understand the emotional attachment people have with their own language and dialect. If they fail to recognise this, it can have an adverse effect on workplace relationships and team performance culture.

“We found that some managers would switch to their own native language in meetings, but this can make others who don’t speak that language or dialect feel neglected and that their views don’t matter. This creates an element of lingual bias which is not good for productivity and morale.

“Linguistic differences are also important in relation to recruitment. Are you hiring the right person for the job or are you hiring someone because they speak the same language and dialect as you, or because they’re from the same part of the country as you?

“Diversity is good in many respects, but we must do more to help business leaders take advantage of this in the workplace.” ■

Spotlight on: Our PhD students

Year one

Nigeria

Ethical values and perceptions within the accounting profession in Nigeria

Kolapo’s research aims to critically examine how accounting and auditing practices in Nigeria can influence policies and practices related to the global issues of ethics and justice. The study explores topics such as culture, gender and accounting ethics education to critically analyse the politics of accounting and auditing standard setting.

Year two United Kingdom

The identity work of professional dancers Phillippa’s research examines the self-authored narratives, more broadly the self-authored narratives and lived experiences, of professional dancers and how their working lives are mediated within their holistic contexts.

Phillippa’s doctoral training is supported by the Alcan Future of Work PhD Scholarship.

Year two

Malaysia

The dynamics of the adoption process of innovative technology: a collective perspective

Nurul’s research aims to provide comprehensive insights into complex dynamics in the overarching process of collective innovative technology adoption, with a focus on private settings, contextualising smart home automation system technology in smart home settings.

Year two

Thailand

The analysis of green transition Nirat’s research revolves around the transition towards green economy at the region-level and micro-level. It investigates topics including regional efficiency, regional twin innovation, and the EU Emissions Trading System. Nirat is an applied economist with a particular interest in climate change policies, economic geography and spatial economics.

Kolapo Odeniyi

Phillippa Kyle

Nurul Tanwir

Nirat Rujimora

Final thoughts

Learn and grow amongst global achievers on our MBA programme

I am delighted to see the relaunch of Reach magazine as a mechanism for showcasing the range, novelty and relevance of the research being undertaken in the School.

We are now painfully aware that this summer is the hottest on record, and that the record-breaking temperatures observed would not have occurred without human-induced climate change. It is reassuring to see colleagues engaging in work that focuses on issues that can support environmental causes such as shopping locally and the relationship between banking and biodiversity.

I hope the environment is a theme that is returned to in future issues of Reach.

Push boundaries. Build resilience. Search for new answers. Transform your business thinking.

Professor Abigail Marks Professor of the Future of Work and Associate Dean Research Newcastle University Business School

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Acknowledgements

Edited by: Newcastle University Business School

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