NWO XS grants for Bertrand Achou and Ann Tank

The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) is happy to announce that FEB-researchers Bertrand Achou and Ann Tank have each received a grant of € 50,000 from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) for new research projects. Bertrand Achou’s project focuses on the impact of house prices on household formation and Ann Tank’s project focuses on Performance Measurement Systems in the workplace that take neurodiversity into account.

The impact of house prices on household formation and dissolution

Bertrand Achou, associate professor at FEB’s Department of Economics, Econometrics & Finance, received the grant for his project titled ‘The impact of house prices on household formation and dissolution’. Housing affordability is a pressing concern, as rising house prices make home ownership more difficult to achieve. Rising house prices may, in particular, affect the decisions of people to live together, to split up, or to have children. In his study, Achou will therefore investigate how house prices influence household formation and dissolution (divorce), using administrative data from Statistics Netherlands. He will explore whether effects vary by education and indebtedness. Achou will also examine how these changes relate to employment, working hours, fertility decisions, and children’s educational outcomes, uncovering potential mechanisms and broader consequences. 

Rethinking Performance Measurement Systems for Neurodiversity in the Workplace   

Ann Tank, assistant professor at FEB’s Department of Accounting and Auditing, received the grant for her project titled ‘Beyond the Typical: Rethinking Performance Measurement Systems for Neurodiversity in the Workplace’. Performance Measurement Systems (PMSs) shape employee behavior, motivation, and performance, yet they often fail to account for neurodivergent individuals, for example those diagnosed with autism or dyslexia. While companies implement neurodiversity initiatives, the effects of their embeddedness within PMSs remains unclear. In her study, Tank will examine how neurodiversity initiatives can be embedded within PMSs. Using an experimental design, she will explore how different levels of adjustments for neurodivergent employees influence perceptions of fairness among both neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals. The participants will be equally divided between groups of self-identified neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals. Tank’s study will contribute to research on organizational justice and the design of organizational control systems,with the aim of better aligning PMSs with an increasing neurodiverse workforces. This funded project is part of a broader research agenda on neurodiversity and management accounting & control, which Tank is developing together with Lena-Marie Sailer, Paula Dirks, and Jacob Reilley (all from FEB).

The NWO Open Competition

With the NWO Open Competition-SSH, NWO Social Sciences and Humanities wants to offer researchers the opportunity to carry out research into a subject of their own choosing without any thematic constraints. The aim is to facilitate excellent, non-programmed, curiosity-driven research that primarily addresses a social sciences or humanities research question and research problem.

Questions? Please contact Betrand Achou or Ann Tank.