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This paper analyses the construction of value under the context of radical uncertainty (Keynes, 1936; Orléan, 1987) in the financialised real estate sector in France. It is based on a participant observation of valuation practices in an international real estate consulting firm and 26 in-depth interviews with professionals of the sector. We show that these practices rely on an institutional architecture that participates in the consolidation and legitimisation of the accumulation activity of asset managers and thus in the feeding of real estate bubbles in the hearts of large metropolises. Completing the conventionalist approach of value (Orléan, 2011) by focussing on the functioning of the organisations involved in the valuation process, I show that the determination of value is less the result of the emergence and autonomisation of a collective belief through market relationships than the product of power relationships between agents integrated in hierarchical professional organisations and in a specific legal framework.

Small businesses are dominant in most economies and their owners likely experience high levels of distress. However, we have not fully explored how these common businesses meaningfully differ with respect to the stress process. Understanding the meaningful variations or subgroups (i.e., heterogeneity) in the small business population will advance occupational health psychology, both in research and practice (e.g., Schonfeld, 2017; Stephan, 2018). To systematize these efforts, the author identifies five commonly appearing “heterogeneity factors” from the literature as modifiers of stressors or the stress process among small business owners. These five heterogeneity factors include: owner centrality, individual differences, gender differences, business/ownership type, and time. After synthesizing the research corresponding to each of these five factors, the author offers specific suggestions for identifying and incorporating relevant heterogeneity factors in future investigations of small business owners’ stress. The author closes by discussing implications for advancing occupational health theories.

A model of stereotypical beliefs that older workers have difficulty learning and developing and are not motivated to learn is presented. Three categories of antecedents of the stereotypical beliefs are addressed: (1) experience with stereotype-consistent behaviors and promulgation of the stereotype by others; (2) perceived learning and development inhibitors internal to the older worker; and (3) perceived learning and development inhibitors external to the older worker. Potential consequences of the stereotypical beliefs for older workers and employing organizations are also explored. Individuating information and knowledge of within-older-group differences are posited to attenuate the influence of group-based stereotypes. Processes and tactics within organizations that should increase this information and knowledge are presented. The proposed model provides a framework to help guide future research on this topic and also some suggestions for managing a work place where these beliefs may exist.

This article addresses purchasing decisions and the use of total cost of ownership (TCO) information. TCO is based on a monetary quantification of nonfinancial attributes and aggregation into a summary measure (such as cost per hour, per wafer, or per kilometer). From an accounting point-of-view, one intricate issue is the accuracy of the monetary quantification and how this affects decision-making. We distinguish three different kinds of inaccurate monetary quantification, and we investigate the weight that decision makers attach to attributes that are inaccurately monetarily quantified and subsequently included in TCO information. Specifically, we investigate whether this weight depends on reflective thinking and experience. This question is relevant beyond TCO, for all decision-making situations that involve monetary quantification of attributes and subsequent aggregation, such as in activity-based costing, net present value calculations for capital budgeting decisions, or cost-benefit analyses in public administration.

We found support for the hypothesis that reflective thinking increases the weight decision makers attach to the attribute that is included as a minimum cost in the TCO-numbers, but not for the hypothesis that reflective thinking would reduce the weight attached to the attribute that is included as a maximum cost in the TCO-numbers. Students and practitioners differed significantly in the weight they attached to an attribute that was excluded from the TCO-numbers, and practitioners gave less weight to such attributes. Together these results suggest that TCO-numbers should be provided with care and possible inaccuracies should be clarified.

This chapter suggests a further step in the development of a representation capable to grasp food systems' complexity. Food systems are neither fully consistent structures resulting from an overall planning, nor stable along time. The transition towards more sustainable and less vulnerable food systems capable to pursue food and nutrition security (FNS) goals in a changing environment needs organizing the diversity of food models that coexist within a territory. These models are based on different conventions and configurations (Fournier & Touzard, 2014; Reardon & Timmer, 2012) which involve different actors and evolve over time according to their changing needs, objectives and capabilities. Understanding this picture requires a shift from a systemic to an ‘assemblage’ approach (DeLanda, 2006), where actors engage themselves in different configurations, on the base of their different agendas. The assemblage approach also shows that linked components retain their autonomy, as attachment to one assemblage normally does not imply total involvement in it. As a consequence, this approach provides space to analyze actors making part of more than one assemblage. Four levels at which assemblage processes can occur are identified in the chapter: assemblages around a firm, a function, a town or a region. It is within these assemblages that the activity of small players and their contribution to sustainable FNS can be effectively identified and possibly promoted.