The neglected mediating role of self-efficacy in the goal setting process in local public administrations

To analyse the role of self-efficacy in goal setting in public administrations, this study combines goal-setting theory, public service motivation literature and cognitive theory. Using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), survey data from 105 German civil servants are analysed. The results underline the role of goal setting (represented by goal difficulty and specificity) in determining the self-efficacy of public servants. Public service motivation and goal specificity both increase public servants’ work performance; however, the effects of goal difficulty are negatively mediated by the employee’s self-efficacy. That finding reflects the central role of self-efficacy, which should not be ignored in the goal-setting processes of public administrations.     

The ecosystem blueprint: How firms shape the design of an ecosystem according to the surrounding conditions

Ecosystems are formed by organisations that jointly create a value proposition that a single firm could not create in isolation. To deliver this value proposition, the partners need a focal firm, the orchestrator, to be align them towards the joint value proposition. Thus, how orchestrators design the alignment structure of an ecosystem is at the very heart of the ecosystem concept – yet it has not been sufficiently addressed by extant research. This is all the more true for the question of how the design of an ecosystem is shaped depending on surrounding conditions. This paper applies a qualitative study with ten cases and, based on the attention-based view of the firm, contributes to research on ecosystems in several ways. First, it explains which ecosystem designs are beneficial under which conditions. Second, it elucidates the structure and activities within ecosystems and shows that start-ups can be just as good ecosystem orchestrators as incumbents. Third, it explains the circumstances under which single vs. multi orchestrator ecosystems occur. Fourth, it presents the conditions when incumbents or start-ups make better orchestrators. Finally, it is among the first studies to apply the attention-based view to business ecosystems, and shows that doing so yields intriguing insights into this emerging field of research.     

Didn’t Plan One but got One: Unintended and sooner-than-intended Parents in the East and the West of Europe

European Journal of Population - The realisation rates of short-term childbearing intentions are known to be consistently lower in post-socialist countries than in the rest of Europe. However, the...     

Reflective Photobooth – a way to visualise,and challenge perceptions and representations of distanced social groups

Taken-for-granted knowledge about people from other social groups is a key challenge for overcoming stereotypes. This article describes a novel arts-based research method to visualise participants’ frames of distanced social groups and aims to trigger reflections among them. The Reflective Photobooth invites participants to dress up as members of distanced social groups, stage a scene, produce pictures, answer prompting questions, and discuss their visualisations. We argue that the artistic re-enactment that underlies the visualisation process can attract diverse groups of participants to engage with research topics, create places for the articulation of critical statements against existing societal clichés and stereotypical media representations, and trigger reflections among participants about taken-for-granted knowledge. The method was tested within the Frame-a-Farmer project, in which the social distance between consumers and food producers in modern agrifood systems was addressed. Results indicate that despite the method bearing some risks and facing some challenges, three promising areas of future application could be identified: (i) raising awareness among large groups of people, (ii) collecting stories or topical vignettes, and (iii) deconstructing taken-for-granted knowledge and societal clichés.     

Quantifying Economic Dependency

In this paper we compare several types of economic dependency ratios for a selection of European countries. These dependency ratios take into account not only the demographic structure of the population, but also the differences in age-specific economic behaviour such as labour market activity, income and consumption as well as age-specific public transfers. In selected simulations where we combine patterns of age-specific economic behaviour and transfers with population projections, we show that in all countries population ageing would lead to a pronounced increase in dependency ratios if present age-specific patterns were not to change. Our analysis of cross-country differences in economic dependency demonstrates that these differences are driven by both differences in age-specific economic behaviour and in the age composition of the populations. The choice of which dependency ratio to use in a specific policy context is determined by the nature of the question to be answered. The comparison of our various dependency ratios across countries gives insights into which strategies might be effective in mitigating the expected increase in economic dependency due to demographic change.     

Scrutinizing an algorithmic technique: the Bayes classifier as interested reading of reality

ABSTRACT

This paper outlines the notion of ‘algorithmic technique’ as a middle ground between concrete, implemented algorithms and the broader study and theorization of software. Algorithmic techniques specify principles and methods for doing things in the medium of software and they thus constitute units of knowledge and expertise in the domain of software making. I suggest that algorithmic techniques are a suitable object of study for the humanities and social science since they capture the central technical principles behind actual software, but can generally be described in accessible language. To make my case, I focus on the field of information ordering and, first, discuss the wider historical trajectory of formal or ‘mechanical’ reasoning applied to matters of commerce and government before, second, moving to the investigation of a particular algorithmic technique, the Bayes classifier. This technique is explicated through a reading of the original work of M. E. Maron in the early 1960 and presented as a means to subject empirical, ‘datafied’ reality to an interested reading that confers meaning to each variable in relation to an operational goal. After a discussion of the Bayes classifier in relation to the question of power, the paper concludes by coming back to its initial motive and argues for increased attention to algorithmic techniques in the study of software.     

A UNIVERSITY EXAMINATION-SCHEDULING MODEL TO MINIMIZE MULTIPLE-EXAMINATION DAYS FOR STUDENTS

Scheduling university examinations is often done with the objective of spreading a student's required examinations over an examination week. That is the equivalent of the problem of minimizing the number of examinations a student must take on any one day. An approach to scheduling exams which relates the problem to the classical assignment problem is discussed. The model developed is a symmetry-constrained assignment model, and the solution method requires use of a branch-and-bound algorithm. Results from application of the algorithm to six semesters of actual data are presented.     

Applying competing risks regression models: an overview

In many clinical research applications the time to occurrence of one event of interest, that may be obscured by another??so called competing??event, is investigated. Specific interventions can only have an effect on the endpoint they address or research questions might focus on risk factors for a certain outcome. Different approaches for the analysis of time-to-event data in the presence of competing risks were introduced in the last decades including some new methodologies, which are not yet frequently used in the analysis of competing risks data. Cause-specific hazard regression, subdistribution hazard regression, mixture models, vertical modelling and the analysis of time-to-event data based on pseudo-observations are described in this article and are applied to a dataset of a cohort study intended to establish risk stratification for cardiac death after myocardial infarction. Data analysts are encouraged to use the appropriate methods for their specific research questions by comparing different regression approaches in the competing risks setting regarding assumptions, methodology and interpretation of the results. Notes on application of the mentioned methods using the statistical software R are presented and extensions to the presented standard methods proposed in statistical literature are mentioned.     

Global and multiple test procedures using ordered p-values—a review

This paper reviews global and multiple tests for the combination ofn hypotheses using the orderedp-values of then individual tests. In 1987, Röhmel and Streitberg presented a general method to construct global level α tests based on orderedp-values when there exists no prior knowledge regarding the joint distribution of the corresponding test statistics. In the case of independent test statistics, construction of global tests is available by means of recursive formulae presented by Bicher (1989), Kornatz (1994) and Finner and Roters (1994). Multiple test procedures can be developed by applying the closed test principle using these global tests as building blocks. Liu (1996) proposed representing closed tests by means of “critical matrices” which contain the critical values of the global tests. Within the framework of these theoretical concepts, well-known global tests and multiple test procedures are classified and the relationships between the different tests are characterised.     

Knowledge Management Systems in Multinational Corporations: Typology and Transitional Dynamics

Knowledge Management Systems (KMSs) are becoming part of the agenda in many of today's leading firms. Through in-depth case studies of seven multinational companies (MNCs), examined over a period of four years, we identify four distinctive types of KMS - Fragmented, Content-based, Process-based and Capability-based - and their characteristics. These characteristics include both the structure, dimension and flow of the knowledge itself, and the staffing, training and reward systems in place to support the KMS. Relevant organisational factors influencing KMS design and implementation include the level of resource commitment by the headquarters, the structure of the firm, and the distribution of roles between headquarters and subsidiaries. Key external influences include the degree of environmental change and pressures to follow industry norms in technology investment. Our empirical evidence suggests that while some MNCs adopt the same type of KMS for relatively long periods of time, others transit between different KMS types. Moreover, transitions between types may follow either an increased resource commitment and augmented KMS sophistication, or a decreased resource commitment and reduced KMS complexity. Insights from the strategy-structure-process and change management literatures are utilised to examine these transitions between KMS types. Key lessons for MNC managers are provided in relation to both the initial adoption of a KMS and the handling of transitions between different systems.