College of Business and Law - Doctoral Theses
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Item The compensation culture in Ireland: towards a greater understanding and recommendations for reform(University College Cork, 2026-04-14) Leahy, Jessica; Hedley, Stephen William; O'Callaghan, Patrick; University College CorkThis thesis employs both a socio-legal and doctrinal approach to examine understandings of the phrase “compensation culture”, in order to consider the coincidence of perceptions and reality in the functioning of Ireland’s tort system. The term, though often used, is ill-defined and used as an umbrella term to cover many issues from personal injury fraud, an excess of claims, to a lack of personal responsibility, amongst others. The project’s ultimate objective is to determine stakeholder perspectives on issues in the system and whether identified issues require reform or are simply ingrained perceptions that have already been appropriately addressed through either legislation or caselaw. Three research questions were developed to achieve these aims: 1) How have ideas around compensation culture developed and what are the central themes of external accounts i.e., public views of the tort system? 2) What themes can be developed from the perspectives of those internal to the system? 3) Are the concerns raised valid legal issues or rather unfounded perceptions? If the former is accurate, what potential reforms could resolve these issues? The thesis explores external views of the tort system in relation to the concept of compensation culture by examining use of the term through a thematic analysis of newspaper articles. This informed an interview study conducted with 21 solicitors and 3 insurance industry representatives to uncover the internal understanding of the issues identified in the public view. A number of topics were identified as relating in various capacities to the term “compensation culture” when it is used. Not all could be addressed due to practical constraints but those considered in the thesis include personal injury claim volume, award levels, fraud and exaggeration, duty and standard of care, cost of insurance, personal responsibility, settlements and reform. The thesis critically analyses issues within the context of each overarching topic that have added nuance through the internal stakeholder view, using doctrinal analysis. In light of different approaches to compensation culture or litigation crisis type concerns in England and Wales as well as Australia, reforms are considered. In particular, it is argued that awards reform has not resulted reduced insurance costs. Therefore, it is suggested that awards should not continue to be targeted. Instead, it is proposed that awards be updated in line with inflation and legal costs be provided for within the Injuries Resolution Board process. The aim being to encourage acceptance of awards made by the body and reduce delivery costs as compared with litigation. With respect to insurance costs, accountability and transparency are the focus. It is proposed that reform similar to that adopted in England and Wales be implemented here. Namely, a statutory requirement for the industry to report whether and how reform savings have benefitted consumers. Fraud and exaggeration are also addressed, with the caveat that there is no reliable statistical or empirical indicator as to how prevalent these issues are. It is argued that a lapsed Bill that provisioned for a mandatory costs order to be made against the plaintiff when a case is dismissed be revived. The position of the “deliberate exaggerator” is also evaluated. Lastly, the thesis considers the power of perceptions and cautions against reactive reform that may not result in the desired outcome. It is argued that placing the common law on statutory footing is unlikely to assuage public concerns and proposes the use of information campaigns instead.Item Innovation in family firms: ownership, management and organisational decision-making(University College Cork, 2026-06-19) Lenihan, Niamh; Bourke, Jane; Doran, Justin; Munster Technological UniversityThis thesis explores how family firm ownership, management structures and organisational conditions shape innovation behaviour and outcomes. By integrating insights from agency theory and its behavioural extensions, it demonstrates that innovation in family firms is a strategic process shaped by managerial agency and preferences, as well as ability and willingness constraints. This research addresses three overarching research questions: (1) Do family-owned firms managed by nonfamily managers adopt more mental health and well-being practices than family-managed firms? (2) How do managerial ability and willingness within family firms shape the adoption of new technologies? (3) How do family ownership and management structures influence innovation success in micro-firms? This thesis first explores workplace health promotion, a topic that has received little attention in the family business literature. To address this gap, this thesis uses new firm-level survey data and employs propensity score matching to examine how family firms adopt mental health and well-being practices. The findings show that, among family-owned firms, nonfamily-managed firms adopt more mental health and well-being practices than family-managed firms do. In particular, nonfamily-managed firms are more likely to introduce prevention-focused practices. By drawing on agency theory and linking the adoption of these practices to managerial type, this research demonstrates that the adoption of mental health and well-being practices is a strategic innovation decision shaped by managerial structure, rather than a peripheral corporate social responsibility activity. While technological innovation is widely acknowledged to enhance firm performance and competitive advantage, few studies examine such innovation within family firms. This thesis extends the ability-willingness paradox to technology adoption in small family firms. Using Microbusiness survey data, it measures ability by management type, while willingness is captured through proxies such as growth ambition, collaboration, and external finance. This study employs Probit estimates to show that family-managed firms are less likely to adopt technologies, whereas family firms exhibiting greater willingness are more likely to do so. Crucially, findings show that willingness positively moderates managers' adoption behaviour – family managers with greater willingness are more likely to adopt technologies in small family firms than those with lower willingness. This contributes to agency-based perspectives on family firms by showing that behavioural orientations shape the ways in which managerial structures influence technology adoption. Finally, this thesis examines innovation success in micro-firms by distinguishing firms by ownership (family-owned vs nonfamily-owned) and management (family-managed vs nonfamily-managed), measuring innovation success through sales generated from new innovations. Using an innovation production function approach, the Tobit estimations provide evidence that family-owned, family-managed firms achieve less innovation success than nonfamily firms. In contrast, family-owned, nonfamily-managed firms achieve innovation success levels comparable to those of nonfamily firms. However, outcome equivalence does not imply mechanism equivalence, as moderation analysis shows that nonfamily managers do not gain the same incremental benefits from internal R&D. Overall, this thesis contributes to the family business literature by advancing the understanding of family firms as shaped not simply by family ownership but by the interaction among ownership, management structures, and organisational conditions. By highlighting the heterogeneity of family firms, the findings show that managerial ability and willingness are central to understanding strategic decision-making and innovation success, particularly within the underexplored micro-firm context. Consequently, family-managed and nonfamily-managed firms cannot be treated as homogeneous groups, as family firms differ in their strategic and resource conditions. This has important practical and policy implications, highlighting the need for more targeted support and management strategies that reflect the diverse innovation needs and capacities of family firms.Item Determinants of consumer acceptance of sustainable healthy dietary recommendations(University College Cork, 2025-12-19) Bourke, Bríd C.; Mccarthy, Mary; McCarthy, Sinéad; Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland; Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural AffairsBackground and Aim: A great food transformation programme is called for by multiple actors across both health and environmental domains. Transforming consumers’ dietary behaviours towards sustainable healthy choices confers concurrent advantages upon both planetary and human health goals. Yet behavioural shifts toward more sustainable food choices appear to be occurring at an exceedingly slow pace, with some indicators suggesting regressive consumption patterns. The baseline from which change must occur remains suboptimal: the average consumer diet fails to meet the current recommended healthy requirements and food related net zero targets are lagging. Nutrition researchers have called for numerous dietary changes in support of sustainable healthy eating. One such call is for consumers to transition from a diet rich in animal proteins towards a plant-rich diet. However, shifting diets towards plant-rich choices presents significant behaviour change challenges given the complexity of consumers’ dietary related beliefs, attitudes, and motives. At the level of individual factors, it is unclear how belief formation and transformation towards the novel, hybrid phenomenon of a ‘sustainable healthy diet’ occurs, and deep consumer insights into openness and resistance to revised food based dietary guidelines are needed. The primary aim of this research is to explore the mechanisms of changing dietary beliefs in response to unexpected information. Through the lens of Transformative Learning Theory, this research focuses on associations amongst disorienting dilemmas, affective constructs, cognitive conflict, and accessibility of beliefs for challenge and change to further understanding of the factors involved in consumers’ openness towards a dietary protein transition. Methods: The research adopts a pragmatist/interpretivist paradigm, which aligns with a social constructivist ontological stance. Within this stance, it is acknowledged that reality is socially constructed and dynamic, and that knowledge is shaped by the individual’s interpretations, meanings and lived experiences. Furthermore, the research adopts a problem orientation lens to facilitate the uncovering of solutions to the practical human issue of dietary behaviour change towards sustainable choices. A multi-stage, exploratory sequential mixed methods design was constructed to address the research aim and objectives. Phase 1 of the qualitative research comprised 25 semi-structured exit-style interviews with volunteers from a separate phase of the research, where motivated-to-change participants completed a 12-week dietary intervention designed to test the nutritional adequacy of sustainable and healthy diets. The second qualitative phase followed, using visual cues designed based on Phase I data, to explore amotivated participants’ cognitive, conative and affective responses in 24 semi-structured interviews. Data from both phases informed the design of a quantitative instrument, and in a Phase 3, an on-line survey of 1000 omnivores, taking measures of attitudes, social norms, perceived behavioural control, emotion evaluations, identity, and subjective knowledge, sought to identify characteristics based on openness or resistance towards a hypothetical meat-reduction dietary recommendation. Findings: Phase 1 found that unexpected dietary information provoked disorientation in the form of cognitive emotions of perplexity, apprehension and overwhelm. Participants suspended embedded beliefs while engaging in a period of conscious effortful change. Positive belief outcomes were related to consciousness raising, meaning perspective transformation and self-efficacy. Negative belief outcomes were related to compensatory behaviours and habit-strength. Phase 2 findings identified evoked emotions of curiosity and excite associated with acceptance, while rejection was shaped both by affect heuristics of moral judgement and distrust, and evoked emotions of contempt, boredom, and perplex. In phase 3, through cluster analysis, four distinct attitudinal-based consumer segments emerged: Embracer, Incliner, Resistor, and Rejector. Differences in openness were associated with profile characteristics including behaviour outcome evaluations, identity, emotion evaluation and subjective knowledge. Research Contribution: This research contributes by providing empirical evidence for the disorienting and affective nature of appraisals of unexpected information on belief formation. Furthermore, this research contributes through the provision of behaviour- and context-specific psychosocial constructs that, together with sociodemographic data, facilitate identification of consumer profiles that offer novel insights into understanding openness and resistance towards plant-rich dietary recommendations. While the results identify a large proportion of the population who are open to a protein transition recommendation, new approaches are needed for those consumers who are particularly resistant and may respond in unintended ways, and for whom alternative routes to sustainable diets are essential. Such insights can inform dissemination of food based dietary guidelines revised towards sustainability.Item Transition to self-management of chronic conditions: a study of the lived experiences of young people, their family members, and caregivers(University College Cork, 2025-12-21) Leocadio, Paula; Kelleher, Carol; Hawkes, Colin P.; Fernández, Eluska; Cork University Hospital Charity Foundation; University College Cork; Irish Research CouncilBackground Transitions are periods of change that mark the movement from one life phase, situation, or status to another. Those related to health and illness have been characterized as complex and multidimensional, involving extended periods of adjustment that may harm well-being and negatively affect healthcare consumption. For young people, the transition to self-management of chronic conditions coincides with a mix of bio-psycho-social factors associated with individual development and other life transitions that can compromise self-management and continuity of care. This can lead to serious short-term and long-term health complications that can significantly affect young people and undermine the effectiveness of healthcare services in delivering quality care. Study Design The present dissertation takes the structure of a publication-based thesis. Manuscript I presents a systematic literature review that syntheses existing research on the lived experiences of young people, their family members, and caregivers during the transition to self-management of chronic conditions. Findings from this review informed the conceptual framing and methodological development of this dissertation. Manuscript II addresses the methodological limitations in extant research on the transition to self-management. Manuscript III adopts a multi-method qualitative approach that combines in-depth interviews and graphic elicitation workshops to explore and elucidate how the transition to self-management is experienced and negotiated over time. Finally, Manuscript IV advances a partnership-oriented approach to developing effective supports and interventions by purposefully involving young people, family members, and caregivers in matters that impact them. Findings The overarching findings from this research reveal that the transition to self-management of chronic conditions is non-linear and recursive, marked by shifting relational dynamics, fluctuating readiness, and evolving care demands. In this way, the argument is made that transitioning to self-management of chronic conditions unfolds through negotiations and interdependencies among young people, family members, caregivers, peers, and healthcare professionals. Contributions Conceptually, this research advances a relational theoretical lens on health-illness transitions that critiques the persistent dominance of individualistic assumptions across marketing and healthcare research. Empirically, the overall findings of this research reveal the underexplored social embeddedness that shapes health-illness transitions and influences well-being outcomes. Methodologically, this research advances context-sensitive and reflexive inquiry in line with inclusive research practices in marketing to address limitations of static, snapshot views of individuals’ lived experiences. Practically, this research suggests that the relational dynamics shaping health-illness transitions are highly relevant for current efforts to improve service design and delivery.Item End-of-life investment decisions for windfarms: an opportunity for climate change and for energy community(University College Cork, 2026-07-15) Mikindani, Dorcas; O'Brien, John; Leahy, Paul; Deeney, Peter; Research IrelandA growing share of onshore wind farms is approaching the end of its originally permitted operational lifetime, creating an urgent need for robust decision-making frameworks to guide lifetime extension, repowering, and decommissioning. While early research primarily focused on deployment and cost reduction, end-of-life (EoL) decision making has emerged as a critical yet under-examined stage of the wind farm lifecycle. This thesis develops an integrated understanding of wind farm EoL decisions by examining the interaction between financial risk, investment flexibility, and community risk perception. The research adopts a mixed method approach and is structured around three complementary studies. The first study quantifies the financial risks associated with turbine component failures over the operational lifetime of wind farms using stochastic modelling and tail-risk metrics. It shows how failure-driven losses generate substantial downside risk and erode economic viability. The second study applies real options analysis to evaluate the financial value of alternative EoL strategies under electricity price uncertainty revealing that repowering offers significant upside potential, while lifetime extension provides limited strategic value and decommissioning remains economically unattractive under most market conditions. The third study examines community investment behaviour using behavioural finance frameworks and survey data from developed and developing countries, showing how risk attitudes, experience, and institutional context shape investment decisions in wind energy. By integrating these financial, operational, and social perspectives, the thesis conceptualises wind farm EoL as a strategic investment and governance problem embedded within complex socio-technical systems. The research delivers two complementary decision-support frameworks: one focused on commercial risk-based evaluation of EoL options, and the other on community investment and social feasibility. Together, these frameworks support more holistic, resilient, and socially legitimate EoL strategies, contributing to the long-term sustainability of wind energy infrastructure and the effective governance of ageing renewable assets in the energy transition.