Buchbesprechungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Process matters – How strategic decision-making process characteristics impact capital allocation efficiency

We employ strategic decision-making process theory to study the internal capital markets of firms and argue that varying allocation efficiency can result from the configuration of the capital allocation decision-making process. Learning from earlier research on firms' portfolio allocations, we also develop assumptions on interaction effects with firm-level unrelated diversification and environmental dynamics. We test our hypotheses with structural equation modeling on an international sample of large multi-business firms. Our results suggest that process formalization and analytical comprehensiveness have a positive influence on the efficiency of allocation decisions. Another key result is that unrelated diversified portfolios positively moderate the influence of analytical comprehensiveness and formalization, while dynamic environments negatively impact the influence of formal processes but reward managerial involvement.     

Evaluation of the Neurodegenerative Conditions Coordinated Care Program (NCCCP) in Western Australia: barriers to better service provision

This paper details a 2009-2010 evaluation of the Neurodegenerative Conditions Coordinated Care Program (NCCCP) commissioned by the Disability Services Commission (DSC) in Western Australia (WA). The program, run by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of WA (Inc.) provides in-home care and supports and respite for people who are under the age of sixty-five and diagnosed with a rapidly degenerative neurological condition. In 2009, the identified barriers to the better provision of services included: shortage of quality out-of-home respite providers, and convoluted paperwork requirements to qualify for the program. Some service providers were unaware of the program and so were not referring them into the NCCCP, a number of service providers were unwilling to refer their clients into the program, neurologists were unwilling to give a final diagnosis for a client, that would enable them to qualify for the service, there was a general lack of knowledge about what services were available in the general community, and existing equipment pools were under-resourced. In 2010, the study found that most of the issues had been addressed however, out-of-home respite services were still very limited especially in rural areas, and the eligibility criteria for entry to the program is confined to those 65 years and under. This paper discusses the issues that still remain with the program as examples of barriers to better provision of services.     

Evaluation of the mandatory construction induction training program in Western Australia: unanticipated consequences

Since January 1, 2007, Government legislation in Western Australia required all workers in construction to complete mandatory safety awareness training before they began work on site. During the implementation of this new legislation there was considerable resistance from the construction sector due to the mandatory nature of the training. The construction industry viewed this as an unnecessary impost as they considered that there was already sufficient safety training delivered through individual company and site inductions. In 2010, we evaluated the new Construction Induction Training (CIT) in the commercial construction sector in Western Australia to find that since 2007 there has been an unanticipated change in support for the mandatory training. The 2010 study shows a shift in the values of the safety culture for the commercial sector of the construction industry. In 2010, the industry not only supports the mandatory CIT, but is very vocal in its request to re-institute the refresher courses that were withdrawn in 2009. Indeed, 79% of respondents claimed there were measurable benefits to their business having their employees complete the CIT, while 96% claimed the CIT assisted in reducing accidents/incidents on their worksites. This 2010 study indicates that in this case, mandatory training has had a positive effect on safety culture change and gradually reduced work-related injury in the industry since 2007 to the present. The paper uses data from two studies conducted in 2006 and 2010 to highlight the unanticipated change in perception of the value of mandatory safety training in the WA construction industry to one which is positive and supportive.     

„Nem Kind nun vorzumachen, du kriegst’ ne Lehrstelle, ist für mich unrealistisch.“

Subject of this contribution are the strategies of action and the practices of social binding under the condition of precarious employment relations. In the case of a young retail saleswoman I want to explore the question if and how situations of insecurity and uncertainty produce specific habitual changes and acquisitions. Which significance do discontinuous life courses have on biographical self-construction? How do the practices of everyday life and the relation to an uncertain future differ between the younger generation and their parents? And finally: which consequences do the pragmatic use of chance and contingency have on lived gender arrangements?     

Bespoke program design for school-aged therapy disability service delivery

This article uses the evaluation of a school-aged therapy service for children with disabilities in Western Australia to investigate models of service delivery. The current literature on family-centered practice, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches, and 4 models of service are reviewed. The models include the life needs model, the relational goal-orientated model of optimal service delivery to children and families, the quality of life model, and the collaborative model of service delivery. Analysis of the data is presented together with a bespoke model of service delivery for children with disabilities, arguing that local contexts benefit from custom-made service design.     

Modernisierungsverlierer,Cultural Backlash,Postdemokratie

In the debate about the causes for the rise of right-wing populism three central hypotheses can be identified: the losers of modernization hypothesis, the cultural backlash hypothesis and the post-democratization hypothesis. In his article (Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 69:209–232) Holger Lengfeld analyses if losers of the modernization process tend to vote for the party AfD (Alternative für Deutschland). Lengfeld found no empirical evidence for his assumption. The empirical data basis of his study is small and he also tests no alternative explanations. In the here presented paper we overcome these shortcomings using Allbus-Data from 1996, 2006 and 2016 to test two alternative hypotheses: the cultural backlash hypothesis and the post-democratization hypothesis. In addition we analyze also the question if the middle class shows a higher predisposition than other social classes. The cultural backlash hypothesis proves to be the strongest predictor for the intention to vote for AfD, nevertheless the two other aspects show significant influence. We found no evidence for a particular radicalization of the middle class.