Essays in empirical corporate finance
On Thursday 27 February 2025 Johan Ludvig Schmidberger Karlsen will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend his thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.
Corporate Paternity Leave: Communication and impact
On Friday 14 March 2025 Agnes Bamford will hold a trial lecture on a prescribed topic and defend her thesis for the PhD degree at NHH.
Agnes Bamford's PhD thesis provides insights into the communication and perception of a new corporate global paternity leave policy. The trigger point for the investigation was that four multinational corporations (MNCs) introduced paid paternity leave globally (in 2017 and 2019). Implementing this type of policy has increasing relevance for companies from an inclusion and gender equality perspective.
A problem for male employees in many countries is that they do not receive support from their employers if they wish to spend time with their newborn children. Family support in corporations is mainly adapted to local legislation and cultural practices in the countries they operate, which means that leave following the birth of a child is reserved for mothers.
The present thesis explores how the introduction of a new global policy of parental leave was strategically communicated and implemented within four MNCs headquartered in the UK and Norway. The data consists of corporate media articles and interviews with father employees and senior managers. The father employees were based in Australia, Brazil, the UK and the US.
The first paper investigates how the four MNCs communicate the offer of global paternity leave externally and internally. A critical insight is the tension between focusing on gender equality versus focusing on inclusion when justifying the new measure. The paper demonstrates the importance of linguistic choices when communicating diversity and inclusion strategies. The second paper explores how father employees who have taken paternity leave perceive and experience the policy. A critical insight from the second paper is that the leave empowers fathers and facilitates male agency.
The third paper investigates employee and manager perceptions on how the leave policy is implemented. The paper introduces a framework for successful global paternity leave implementation across the four MNCs. One critical insight from the third paper is that for the policy to succeed the leave should be aligned with company values and be supported by both the corporate structure and the work culture.
Prescribed topic for the trial lecture:
The Role of the Researcher in Qualitative Research: Research Ethical Reflections
Trial lecture:
Aud Jebsen, NHH
Title of the thesis:
«Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Corporations: The case of Global Paternity Leave».
Defense:
Aud Jebsen, NHH
Members of the evaluation committee:
Associate Professor Christian Langerfeld (leader of the committee), Department of Language and Intercultural Communication, NHH
Professor Marie-Therese Claes, University of Vienna
Senior Lecturer Petteri Eerola, University of Jyväskylä
Supervisors:
Associate Professor Kristin Rygg (main supervisor), Department of Language and Intercultural Communication, NHH
Professor Emerita Trine Dahl, Department of Language and Intercultural Communication, NHH
The trial lecture and thesis defense will be open to the public.