Zur Rolle versunkener Kosten in aufeinander folgenden IT-Outsourcing-Entscheidungen

Despite the ongoing theoretical and practical investigations of IT outsourcing, there are still a large number of projects that are unsuccessful or even fail all along the line. Studies in the decision-making literature indicate that psychological effects in the evaluation of decision-relevant facts may be one relevant reason for unsuccessful decisions. By conducting a quantitative empirical study with German IT decision makers, we investigate the influence of non-rational factors within consecutive IT outsourcing decisions. We show that beside the rational economic factors (transaction, production and the rational part of switching costs) also non-rational switching costs in terms of sunk cost do significantly contribute to the explanation of consecutive IT outsourcing decisions. Furthermore, we examine moderating effects that affect the non-rational behavior of IT decision makers. Besides the theoretical contribution to analyze the effects of sunk cost on both an individual and organizational level, we also derive practical implications. In consecutive IT outsourcing decisions, the non-rational behavior triggered by sunk cost can for example be reduced by replacing the decision maker or consult a decision team when sunk cost play a considerable role.     

Die Rückeroberung der Vergangenheit: Istanbuls visuelle Kommunikation zum Europäischen Kulturhauptstadtjahr 2010

In the context of the global competition to attract knowledge-workers, tourists, and investors, cities work carefully on their iconic representation. Star architects and marketing experts try to strengthen the peculiarities of cities and stage their distinctiveness. Following Anselm Strauss, city images play a significant role in structuring the imagination of the city “as a whole”. They help to organize everyday life in urban settings and structure local discourses (Strauss 1961). The object of analysis is the image campaign “Istanbul 2010: European Capital of Culture”. The advertising motif is considered as a “self-portrait” of the city, a communicative strategy how the city wants to be seen and understood. The argument is, that the city images select from a great pool of possible narratives and symbols (heterogeneity) certain aspects and construct a coherent and particular “image of the city” (densification). In this respect the question has to be raised what the image depicts and what it conceals. The article refers to the current debate within the field of urban sociology about the “intrinsic logic of cities” (Berking et al. 2008; Löw 2008). Thereby the “city” is conceptualized as the object of investigation rather than merely serving as the analytic context. To evaluate the advertising image a segment-analytical approach is employed (Breckner 2010).     

The impact of household capital income on income inequality��a factor decomposition analysis for the UK, Germany and the USA

This paper analyses the contribution of capital income to income inequality in a cross-national comparison. Using micro-data from the Cross-National Equivalent File (CNEF) for three prominent panel studies, namely the BHPS for the UK, the SOEP for West Germany, and the PSID for the USA, we use the factor decomposition method described by Shorrocks (Econometrica 50:193–211, 1982). The factor decomposition of disposable income into single income components shows that capital income is exceedingly volatile and that its share in disposable income has risen recent years. Moreover, capital income makes a disproportionately high contribution to overall inequality in relation to its share in disposable income. This applies to Germany and the USA in particular. Thus capital income accounts for a large part of disparity in all three countries.     

Restrained domination in cubic graphs

Let G=(V,E) be a graph. A set S⊆V is a restrained dominating set if every vertex in V−S is adjacent to a vertex in S and to a vertex in V−S. The restrained domination number of G, denoted γ _r (G), is the smallest cardinality of a restrained dominating set of G. A graph G is said to be cubic if every vertex has degree three. In this paper, we study restrained domination in cubic graphs. We show that if G is a cubic graph of order n, then g_r(G) 3 \fracn4\gamma_{r}(G)\geq \frac{n}{4} , and characterize the extremal graphs achieving this lower bound. Furthermore, we show that if G is a cubic graph of order n, then g_r(G) ￡ \frac5n11.\gamma _{r}(G)\leq \frac{5n}{11}. Lastly, we show that if G is a claw-free cubic graph, then γ _r (G)=γ(G).     

The Japanese version of the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire: a study in dental technicians

To test the psychometric properties and criterion validity of the Japanese version of the EffortReward Imbalance (ERI) Questionnaire (Siegrist, 1996), a survey was conducted among 105 male dental technicians. The Japanese version of the questionnaire was developed through a backtranslation process. Internal consistency and factorial structure were tested and the criterion validity with respect to musculoskeletal symptoms was estimated with the help of a correlation matrix and logistic regression analysis. In psychometric terms, the factorial structure of the scales measuring the components of the theoretical concept was replicated satisfactorily, and internal consistencies of the scales measuring the extrinsic and intrinsic components of the model were appropriate. Significant associations between components of the ERI and musculoskeletal symptoms were found. Logistic regression analysis revealed a significantly elevated risk of musculoskeletal symptoms in participants scoring high on the scale measuring the model's intrinsic component, 'overcommitment'. This study indicates that, at least for the occupational group under study, the Japanese version of the ERI Questionnaire is a feasible and psychometrically well justified new measure for assessing psychosocial stress at work with relevance to health.     

Living Well in Times of Threat: The Importance of Adjustment Processes to Explain Functional Adaptation to Uncertain Security in Expatriates Deployed in the Sudan

The present study investigated expatriate humanitarian aid workers’ perceptions and responses to uncertain security while deployed in the Sudan. Interviews conducted in Khartoum (n = 7) and Darfur (n = 17) focused on risk perception, concern for personal security, and strategies used to function well in an insecure environment. Despite a high perceived general risk, as well as broad knowledge and experience with security incidents, participants often expressed low concern. General adjustment processes were drawn on to explain this finding, while different constellations of processes resulted in different patterns of adjustment. Functional adjustment, resulting in adequate risk perception, protective behavior, protection, and low concern, was characterized by a constellation of complementary activation of accommodation and assimilation processes.     

Das Zürcher Ressourcen Modell im Change-Management

This article demonstrates the reasons for reactance in enterprise change processes. To understand the personal reasons for the resistance, one has to look at the personality of a person. The PSI theory explains the functional systems responsible for how one perceives the world, how one thinks, feels and acts. The knowledge gained from this theory can be realized into good self-management using the ZRM method, which incorporates all the needs, preferences, abilities and values of a person.     

Mead's Theory of Emergence as a Framework for Multilevel Sociological Inquiry

This article explores Mead's theory of emergence. The essence of this theory is conditional interactionism. In this perspective, every social fact is an emergent arising out of preconditioned interaction between the acting unit and the social and nonsocial environment. Its nature is shaped by (1) the patterns, processes, and contents of the interaction, including their mediation by such factors as perception/meaning, reflective thinking, role‐taking‐based rationality, emotion, nonsymbolic power in use, and reality testing; and (2) the preexisting conditions of both the acting unit and the environment that underlie this interaction. I argue that Mead's conditional interactionism can be used as a powerful guide for sociological inquiry at all levels of research and that it has the potential to function as a metatheoretical approach to compete with both the objectivist/structuralist and the subjectivist/phenomenological traditions. Mead's theory of emergence is probably the greatest treasure we can unearth from his semineglected legacy.     

Die Verfügbarkeit partnerschaftlich gebundener Akteure für den Partnermarkt

Drawing on data from the German Family Survey 2000, the paper analyses the availability of persons already committed in an intimate relationship for the marriage market on the background of family economics and exchange theory. The probability of separation and immediately getting involved in a Availability varies with some easily observable traits: duration of relationship, cohabitation and marital status, age of partners, sex and — for female actors — the age of the youngest child. The connection of these traits to the commitment in the current relationship is in most cases very obvious and common sense. Thus the traits may be interpreted as indicators of availability by other actors on the marriage market. In contrast to usual assumptions, unmarried persons are available for the marriage market only to a rather small extent if they cohabit with or without a shared household. Married persons are available for the marriage market up to a small, but measureable extent, too.