舆论危机的异化极化效应研究

随着Web2.0时代的到来,网络媒体逐渐成为舆论生成、传播和交锋的主阵地,舆论危机的形成及其异化也成为日益突出的社会风险问题.本文以舆论的异化演化机理为研究对象,通过梳理典型事件舆论话题的异化过程,对其基本内涵、表现形式和演化模式等进行系统总结.随后,研究以舆论超网络模型为基础,借鉴社会影响理论的基本原则,提出舆论异化机理的极化算法,并对其具体流程进行解析和实现.最后,本文以“7·23甬温动车事故”为例,对舆论危机的异化极化过程和影响因素进行系统仿真和实证分析.     

Mexican system a mix of public and private providers

The following article is one of a series that deal with the provision of health care services around the world. Other countries in the series include Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States. Countries scheduled for coverage in the series include Austria, France, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The countries are described using a grid of characteristics so that comparisons may be made more easily. All of the analyses, along with further comparative data, will be gathered into a freestanding book to be published later in the year. Dr. Mendoza serves as the editor for the project.     

Bureaucracy,decision-making and leadership in private and public organisations

Starting from the current political discussion of privatization, a comparison is made between private and public organizations, focusing on the degree of bureaucracy and the processes of decision-making and leadership in the organizations. The comparison is based on empirical data published in the literature of organizational research, including some fresh material from a recent comparative study of strategic decision-making in British and Swedish organizations. On the basis of these empirical data, it is concluded that many of the arguments put forward in the discussion of privatization do not seem to be grounded in facts, and that the results of organizational research do not confirm the great differences that are said to exist between private and public organizations.     

Doctor assisted suicide: an analysis of public opinion of Michigan adults

Michigan public opinion on Doctor Assisted Suicide (DAS) was assessed in January 1997 (N=603). Asked if they would consider DAS for themselves, two-thirds would if being kept alive by machine or were experiencing chronic pain; one-half would if they experienced a loss in mobility or independence, became a burden to others, or were diagnosed with a terminal disease; and one-third would if they were incontinent or going to a nursing home. A series of demographic and attitudinal comparisons were made for support for the concept of DAS and as a hypothetical consideration for oneself. The highest support for the concept of DAS was found among the following: men eighteen to twenty-four years old, some college education, $35-60,000/year income, Caucasian, Democrat, liberal, Protestant, and frequent church attendee. The highest self-consideration of DAS was found among the following: men, fifty to fifty-five years old, post-graduate education, $35-60,000/year income, Caucasian, Democrat, liberal, Protestant, and infrequent church attendee.     

The value of audit quality in public and private companies: evidence from Spain

This paper compares the value of audit quality, proxied by the selection of a big N auditor, to the external claimholders of private and public companies. Although the combination of a lower ownership concentration of public companies, the greater demand for financial information quality about these companies and their higher litigation risk can result in the expectation that audit quality should be more valuable for public than for private companies, the greater information asymmetry between the managers and the external stakeholders and the unavailability of alternative mechanisms for monitoring the managers can make external audit more valuable for the external claimholders of private companies. In this paper, we test these two competing views by analysing if banks and lenders take into account auditor selection in the formation of the cost of debt. Our results support the second view: we find that only private companies obtain a lower cost of debt when they are audited by a high-quality auditor. These results are robust to both endogeneity and unobserved firm-specific heterogeneity.     

Private sector management of food safety: public regulation and the role of private controls

Private sector responses to the challenge of managing food safety are explored. This paper clarifies the objectives of this special issue, introducing the key issues in each of the following articles. The degree and manner of regulatory compliance, an important element of any strategic food safety management decision, are discussed. Separate of the response to regulations, the incentives of firms to implement advanced management systems are documented. The paper pays particular attention to firm efforts to minimize the potential for product recalls.     

Attitudes towards safety performance on construction work: An investigation of public and private sector differences

This paper summarizes the results of a research project into the attitudes and behaviour relating to safety performance on construction work. Based upon the findings of a pilot study (Shimmin et al. 1981), the research had as its principal objective the investigation of previously observed differences in attitude and motivation between private-sector and public-sector employees. In particular, it had been found that the two groups differed in terms of their views on the locus of responsibility for safety and the cause of accidents: private-sector operatives displayed more of an internal attribution and public-sector operatives more of an external attribution. Additionally, the research examined the importance of such factors as working conditions, payment schemes and the social organization of work in relation to the structure of these attitudes.     

The effect of public involvement on firm inefficiency: evidence using Japanese private firms

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of public involvement on firm inefficiency. Public involvement is defined as the actions taken by governments to control firm management, as expressed in regulation and public ownership. We make the following three contributions. First, we show public involvement is an important determinant of the inefficiency of private firms. Although public involvement has been shown to influence firm behavior in public or regulated sectors, existing studies in the private sector tend to ignore its effects. Second, we analyze firm inefficiency rather than firm performance by focusing on cost factors. Previous work tends to use performance measures such as return on assets or return on equity rather than inefficiency measures to judge a firm’s management level. Performance measures are problematic, however, in that they are affected by not only cost factors but also demand factors. Therefore, we must separate these factors when we analyze a firm’s management. Third, we use a stochastic cost frontier model for the estimation. Although this is a suitable approach for estimating firm inefficiency, it is rarely used for private firms. Our results suggest that public ownership increases firm inefficiency while regulation decreases firm inefficiency. It is also clear that the effect of public ownership is not significant in the manufacturing industry, while it is strongly significant in the nonmanufacturing industry. This shows the importance of studying the effect of public involvement in the private sector.     

Exploring the link between integrated leadership and public sector performance

This study develops the concept of integrated leadership in the public sector. Integrated leadership is conceived as the combination of five leadership roles that are performed collectively by employees and managers at different levels of the hierarchy. The leadership roles are task-, relations-, change-, diversity-, and integrity-oriented leadership. Using data from the Federal Human Capital Survey and Program Assessment Rating Tool, we analyze the relationship between integrated leadership and federal program performance. The findings from the empirical analysis indicate that integrated leadership has a positive and sizeable effect on the performance of federal sub-agencies. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings and limitations of the study.     

如何管理利益冲突？

由于公司丑司的不断出现，许多国家都加强了公司治理的力度，其中一个方面就是要求公司用一种正确而透明的方式来处理董事会成员们身上的利益冲突问题。     

Psychosocial risk assessment: Measurement invariance of the UK Health and Safety Executive's Management Standards Indicator Tool across public and private sector organizations

Abstract

This study provides evidence to support the validity of the UK Health and Safety Executive Management Standards Indicator Tool, which is widely used in the UK by organizations to test for stress-related working conditions. A large pooled data set was collected from 137 UK organizations (N=67,347) to test the factor structure of both the original 35-item seven-factor instrument and a new shorter 25-item version. The results showed that the tool was a good fit to the data for both versions. Further analysis examined the factor structure of the Indicator Tool by splitting the data set into both public and private sector organizations. Tests for measurement invariance showed that both versions of the Indicator Tool provided a good fit to the data. The final sequence of analysis showed that the measurement structure of both the 25-item and 35-item scales was also invariant across small-, medium- and large-sized organizations. The current study provides percentile tables for both the public and private sectors so that organizations can compare their scores against UK national benchmarks. Overall, this study validates both the full and the short versions of a valuable and reliable diagnostic instrument for use in a variety of organizations.     

Conflicts inherent in Corporate Codes

Codes of Conduct have enjoyed a long history as guides to human behavior. Corporate Codes of Conduct enjoy significant popularity in the U.S. and U.K. This article examines Codes in terms of their evolution (history), expectations (from possible to impossible), and enforcement (the area of greatest difficulty). The article examines trends in Corporate Codes and defines Codes as one aspect of developing corporate conscience. The article concludes with the view that useful as Codes may be, the inherent problem with Codes has been their separation over time from a moral foundation or philosophical base.     

Regulating private monopolies and promoting competition

This article describes developments in the British telecommunications industry in its transition from the public to the private sector. These developments are not particular to this industry alone. The 1980s are seeing a movement away from direct government control in large organizations in the public sector and towards privatization, for reasons that are both political and economic. The experience of the telecommunications industry has both particular and general relevance.     

信息不对称性下的利益冲突与激励贷款合同

本文首先实证调查和研究了我国银行等金融机构面临的高度信息不对称及由此产生的贷款风险;接着从理论和实务的角度研究了不对称信息下的利益冲突,以及银行为保护自己的利益,应如何设计具有激励特征的贷款合同以降低贷款过程中的风险,并达成各方的利益平衡。     

冲突——组织的双刃剑

任何组织内部及其与周围环境之间,都会存在和发生这样那样的冲突。甚至可以说,冲突之于组织是无处不在、无时不有的。所以,美国著名管理学家福莱特认为,“应该将冲突视为一个组织中任何活动的一个正常过程”。组织管理学家早已认识到,对于组织来说,冲突是一柄双刃剑,它并不是只具有破坏性,同样也具有建设性。然而,许多组织的领导者却往往未能全面、辩证地认识和正确、恰当地处理组织所存在和发生的冲突,以至于自己的组织常常被组织内部的冲突这柄双刃剑所刺伤,未能很好地发挥其对于组织应有的建设性作用。要从根本上改变这一局面,就必须全面…