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Article
Publication date: 13 March 2007

Brian C. Renauer

The present study aims to examine the relationship between public and informal social control by investigating whether perceptions of neighborhood policing exhibit a positive or…

2713

Abstract

Purpose

The present study aims to examine the relationship between public and informal social control by investigating whether perceptions of neighborhood policing exhibit a positive or negative relationship to informal control. The influence of police‐resident coproduction (police attendance at community meetings, police accessibility, police‐resident problem solving) on informal control is contrasted with general perceptions of police effectiveness and legitimacy.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data from 81 neighborhood leaders representing 81 Portland, OR neighborhoods (i.e. unit of analysis), along with crime and census data is used. Analysis involves multivariate OLS regression and correlations.

Findings

A frequency of police attendance at community meetings was negatively related to informal social control, controlling for neighborhood demographics, crime, and social cohesion. Results indicate a community style of policing may not be enough to overcome deeply entrenched attitudes toward the police in the most disadvantaged communities and at worst may discourage informal social control. Perceptions of neighborhood social cohesion and government responsiveness are the best predictors of increased informal social control.

Research limitations/implications

Further research is needed to understand the development of attitudes toward the police, especially in the most disadvantaged communities. The conclusions of the study are limited by the cross sectional design and use of a single neighborhood leader informant.

Practical implications

This paper attempts to identify how clear, tactical methods of collaborating with residents are related to informal social control.

Originality/value

This is one of the few studies to empirically assess whether public social control through neighborhood policing, in particular police‐resident coproduction and police legitimacy, is related to informal social control.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 30 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 December 2022

Januário José Monteiro, Rogério João Lunkes and Fabricia Rosa

This study aims to analyze the influence of formal and informal controls on trust and individual creativity.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to analyze the influence of formal and informal controls on trust and individual creativity.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted with managers of companies listed in Brazil Stock Exchange (Brazil, Bolsa, Balcão-B3), and the final sample was 124 valid responses. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (FsQCA).

Findings

The results show that the influence of informal controls (cultural and personnel controls) on individual creativity is greater than that of formal controls (action and results controls). It was also found that formal and informal controls facilitate social exchanges between managers by influencing trust. Moreover, the results confirmed the mediation of trust in the relationship between controls and individual creativity. FsQCA demonstrates that formal and informal controls are complemented and, when combined with trust, enable high individual creativity.

Originality/value

The findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating that the effective use of management controls generates greater trust and awakens creative skills in managers.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 19 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2015

Massoomeh Hedayati, Aldrin Abdullah and Mohammad Javad Maghsoodi Tilaki

The purpose of this paper is to examine the validity of community organisation as part of the systemic model. Based on the systemic model of community crime, it is perceived that…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the validity of community organisation as part of the systemic model. Based on the systemic model of community crime, it is perceived that community networks are negatively correlated with victimisation. The authors consider an alternative interpretation, suggesting that these conceptual relationships can run opposite to the directions shown in the systemic model. The crime rate itself may change residents’ perception of neighbouring behaviour and informal control.

Design/methodology/approach

This hypothesis is tested using a multigroup analysis of the community organisation across a sample of victims and non-victims in a Malaysian neighbourhood.

Findings

The authors find that property crime affects ethnic relations among the residents, where the non-victims perceived higher levels of ethnic relationships compared with the victims. The results show that configural and metric invariance are fully supported, while scalar and structural invariance were partially supported, suggesting that the items measured may be robust across cultures and that the factor loadings appeared to be equivalent across victims and non-victims. Non-victims perceived significantly higher informal control and closer ethnic relations than victims.

Originality/value

The paper provides a new direction of the systemic model, whereby victimisation could affect residents’ size of friendship networks and perception informal control.

Details

Safer Communities, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-8043

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 4 July 2019

Amentahru Wahlrab, Sarah M. Sass and Robert Edward Sterken

“The Need to Disrupt Social Control” discusses three examples: sexual assault, civil rights, and state security, and how all three involve social control forces that promote or…

Abstract

“The Need to Disrupt Social Control” discusses three examples: sexual assault, civil rights, and state security, and how all three involve social control forces that promote or permit the oppression of individuals, groups, and societies. Amentahru Wahlrab, Sarah M. Sass, and Robert Edward Sterken Jr. briefly provide examples of how social control can be disrupted including #MeToo (sexual assault), the American Civil Rights Movement (civil rights), and the Arab Spring (authoritarian regimes) to illustrate how social control has been disrupted in these areas. The chapter illustrates how patriarchal norms allow for sexual assault by those with power within contexts, such as Hollywood, academia, business, and politics. Sexual assault survivors and bystanders often do not report instances of assault due to informal social norms permitting such actions and fear of personal and professional harm.

On a different level, the jail in the American south was one of the most feared institutions for African Americans. It was not uncommon for an African American to never return from what would be a night in the “drunk tank” for a white person. Black Americans stayed “in their place” due to the threat of the jail cell. Finally, the chapter details how tyrants use the full weight of state security forces, including the police and the military, to maintain their control. Fear of security forces is routinely encouraged by arrests, torture, and even disappearance (of people) at the hands of the security forces. “The Need to Disrupt Social Control” concludes that in these cases, social control maintains an oppressive order of some kind, thus social control is understood as a potential negative.

Details

Political Authority, Social Control and Public Policy
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-049-9

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 1 April 2003

Rafael Wittek, Marijtje A.J van Duijn and Tom A.B Snijders

In a study of conflict in organizations, Lindenberg’s relational signaling theory is used to develop hypotheses on the impact of relationship strength, network embeddedness, and…

Abstract

In a study of conflict in organizations, Lindenberg’s relational signaling theory is used to develop hypotheses on the impact of relationship strength, network embeddedness, and organizational change on social escalation. Social escalation is defined as the involvement of one or more third parties in a conflict. An empirical test is conducted with data on 67 conflicts involving 22 managers, gathered during three years of ethnographic fieldwork and a longitudinal network study in a management team of a German paper factory. Multilevel analysis indicates that strong ties between conflicting parties decrease the level of social escalation, whereas informal power advantage of one party increases the chances for social escalation. Both effects disappear over time. It is argued that the dissolving impact of relationships and networks is due to the disappearance of so-called solidarity frame-stabilizing activities in the firm. The results highlight the context-dependence of network effects and escalation processes.

Details

The Governance of Relations in Markets and Organizations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-202-3

Book part
Publication date: 9 November 2017

Sizwe Timothy Phakathi

This chapter provides an extensive review of literature on the interaction between and interdependence of informal and formal working practices in various workplace settings. The…

Abstract

This chapter provides an extensive review of literature on the interaction between and interdependence of informal and formal working practices in various workplace settings. The aim of the chapter is to elucidate the organisational, managerial, human relations and social factors that give rise to informal work practices and strategies, on the shop-floor not only at workers and work group levels but also at supervisory and managerial levels. This chapter helps the reader to understand the informal work practice of making a plan (planisa) in a deep-level mining workplace.

Details

Production, Safety and Teamwork in a Deep-Level Mining Workplace
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-564-1

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-889-6

Article
Publication date: 18 November 2013

Basil Tucker and Helen Thorne

This paper aims to provide insights into how organizational performance in a prior period may influence the nature of control subsequently used by senior not-for-profit (NFP…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide insights into how organizational performance in a prior period may influence the nature of control subsequently used by senior not-for-profit (NFP) managers.

Design/methodology/approach

This investigation is based on data collected from semi-structured interviews of CEOs and senior executives in 32 Australian NFPs.

Findings

Although performance has a considerable influence on the subsequent use of control, the findings point to a broad conceptualisation of performance as it is perceived to apply within a NFP context. Moreover, the roles of formal management control systems and informal control are quite distinct, with the latter predominating in responding to prior performance.

Originality/value

Despite recognition in the management accounting literature of the likely influence of organizational performance in previous periods on control, empirical studies investigating organizational performance as an antecedent to the use of control have been surprisingly limited. The current study directly responds to this gap in our knowledge, and also, to prior calls for the need for more management control research into the NFP sector. This contribution is important in view of the considerable economic and social impact of this sector in most Western economies, coupled with the increasing recognition of the importance of both performance and control within this sector.

Details

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, vol. 10 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1176-6093

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 June 2015

Vladislav Iouchkov and Philip Birch

– The purpose of this paper is to examine informal social control, vigilantism, and bystander intervention with reference to the Real-Life Superhero (RLSH) movement/community.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine informal social control, vigilantism, and bystander intervention with reference to the Real-Life Superhero (RLSH) movement/community.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a qualitative case study in which an in-depth semi-structured interview was conducted with a member of the RLSH community.

Findings

This paper conceptualises RLSH activity as a novel approach to informal social control and bystander intervention, whilst revealing the inaccuracy of the media-imposed “vigilante” stigma attributed to RLSHs.

Research limitations/implications

Clarifying the goals and methods of RLSHs as striving to be pro-social and law-abiding in nature creates an avenue for dialogue between RLSHs and local justice agencies to establish a working partnership for community safety, thereby mediating interactions between informal and formal agents of social control.

Practical implications

Justice agencies to engage with all individuals and groups who are performing community safety/crime prevention functions in a more effective and inclusive way. To ensure formal and informal mechanisms of social control, and the wider community, recognise, and legitimise the RLSH movement in community safety policy and practice. Reconsider the use of the term “vigilantism” and how it is it applied to individuals and community groups involved in community safety policy and practice. This case study presents a unique approach to community safety and crime prevention that can be extended within this public safety philosophy and practice.

Originality/value

This study is a contribution to a small but growing body of research concerning the RLSH movement/community.

Details

Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-3841

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 February 2021

Ahmed Diab

This study investigates state institutions' influence on corporate accountability and control practices in a rural African context. Exploring the different rationales behind state…

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates state institutions' influence on corporate accountability and control practices in a rural African context. Exploring the different rationales behind state existence in the context of sugar production in Egypt, this work clarifies how accountability is practised differently in the case of the high centrality of state logics in the business sector.

Design/methodology/approach

Theoretically, the study draws insights from the institutional logics perspective. Following the case study approach, data are collected through interviews, observations and documents.

Findings

The study found that state institutions can play a supportive rather than a mere constraining role in the management, accountability and control processes. Notably, it clarified how state-related institutions were highly central and influential in a way that enabled them to curb the (negative) influences of the community and business institutions. In this context, it is social – rather than functional – accountability which emerges as the central control practice to achieve answerability and enforcement.

Originality/value

Thus, this study's reported findings confirm the role of institutional (political) logics as supportive in society.

Details

Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-1168

Keywords

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