The development of evaluation as a profession: Current status and some predictions

Sociological models of professionalization are applied to recent events in program evaluation in order to understand the development of the field and to predict future events. The focus is on problems that might arise and on the necessity of ameliorating them. The possibility of eliminating such problems is discounted since they appear to be integral elements of the process of professionalization. Major elements of the analysis include discussions of the consequences of the development of a specialized body of evaluation knowledge, the definition of evaluation tasks, exclusivity in the performance of those tasks, the development of professional associations, and problems in the training of evaluators. The reasons for problems in these areas are presented and the importance of being aware of the origin of the problems is discussed.     

The misuse and use of metatheory

Some approaches to metatheory are criticized for their tendency to avoid scientific sociology's central task: to explain how the social universe operates. While much metatheory is intellectually stimulating, it can also be debilitating in that it pulls social theory into reviews of the history of ideas, textual debate, philosophical discourse, ideological critique, and other unresolvable intellectual issues. In so doing, metatheory directs attention away from the analysis of the operative dynamics of the social world. Such need not be the case, however, for metatheory can be used to produce better theories. A general strategy for using metatheory to produce theory is proposed, and portions of this strategy are illustrated with a preliminary analysis of several conflict theories.     

An Index of Child Well-being in the European Union

While the living conditions of children and young people in the European Union have gained increasing recognition across the EU, the well-being of children is not monitored on the European level. Based on a rights-based, multi-dimensional understanding of child well-being we analyse data already available for the EU 25, using series data as well as comparative surveys of children and young people. We compare the performance of EU Member States on eight clusters with 23 domains and 51 indicators and give a picture of children’s overall well-being in the European Union. The clusters are children’s material situation, housing, health, subjective well-being, education, children’s relationships, civic participation and risk and safety.     

When do leaders matter? Ownership,governance and the influence of CEOs on firm performance

Leadership and strategic management research suggests that the extent to which CEOs influence performance largely depends on the presence or absence of certain factors. These factors may include the characteristics of the task at hand, subordinates, the organization itself or the external environment. Among these factors, a fundamental contingency that has received little empirical attention is an organization's ownership and governance structure—that is, who owns and monitors the organization. In this paper, we outline how different ownership and governance structures can present the opportunity for, or limit, leader influence and empirically examine the extent to which CEO effects on financial performance depend on these structures. Examining organizations in the same industry but with different ownership and governance structures, our results suggest that these structures are closely aligned with the degree to which CEOs influence firm performance. Our findings support the notion that leaders matter most when ownership and governance structures correspond with a weak or ambiguous institutional logic. This study contributes new insight into the “opportunity structure” of CEO influence, that is, the organizational factors that shape leader discretion and, hence, condition the CEO's level of influence over firm performance.     

Framing effects in the evaluation of multiple risk reduction

We studied how evaluation of changes in low-probability risks are affected by reference points and framing effects. Subjects considered hypothetical situations with one or two low-probability risks. Different frames were used to describe changes in risk levels. In the first experiment, subjects chose between risk-reduction options that achieved the same overall risk reduction: large reduction of one risk vs. equal (smaller) reduction of two risks. When the risks were described as losses relative to the no-risk ideal, more subjects were indifferent between the options than when the same options were described as gains relative to the status quo. In the latter case subjects preferred equal reduction of both risks, unless one risk could be reduced to zero. In a related experiment, subjects were less willing to pay any price for a commodity that carried small increases in two risks than for a commodity carrying a comparable large increase in one risk. In other experiments, subjects evaluated single changes in risks rather than comparing or evaluating pairs of changes. Subjects again placed particularly high value on reducing any risks to zero, and they were even more inclined to do so when some other risk would also be reduced to zero. In a final experiment, elimination of risk was found to be less highly valued if its source was not fully eliminated, and a status-quo effect was found. The findings are interpreted in terms of reference theories of choice.     

The paradox of inter-country adoption: analysing Romania's experience as a sending country

This article explores the effects of inter-country adoption on the development of in-country services to protect children and support families in Romania. The country's child care legislation gives formal priority to domestic alternatives to institutional care – preventive services, family reunification, foster care and in-country adoption. Despite this, inter-country adoption continues to play a central role in Romania's child welfare system. The article analyses the multiple and complex factors at policy and practice levels that lie behind this situation. It is concluded that whilst inter-country adoption may be used to secure some resources for the development of in-country services, it paradoxically undermines the effectiveness of those services for the children who are left behind.