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This chapter explores the impact of equality, diversity, and inclusivity (EDI) on internal change agents’ (ICAs) personal and professional development. We have surveyed 117 ICAs that undergo a four-year digital development programme at Edinburgh Business School (EBS). Our survey design draws from expectancy, surprise, sensemaking, and attribution theories to test four hypotheses using Spearman’s rank. We found that diversity features such as gender, age, sector affiliation, work experience, management responsibility, and programme stage do not strongly impact ICAs’ experience of personal and professional development. Surprisingly, some diversity features had a modest or moderate impact on ICAs’ experience of personal and professional development. This disconfirmed our basic assumption about the effectiveness of inclusivity practices in the digital development programme at EBS. We conclude that future research should further investigate the impact of evaluation on ICAs’ personal and professional development and how we can secure it in a digital Business School context.

The paper's primary purpose is to define and characterize the innovative concept in public management theory, New Public Governance (NPG), from its theoretical framework and the view of public management institutions. The second objective is to create a logical framework to explain this notion. The broader role of this paper is to expand the understanding of this contemporary public management trend.

The methodological approach of the authors' research is based on a deep understanding of theoretical sources, particularly the scientific precursors in the literature surrounding the NPG theory. The authors used the following methods to achieve the paper's goals: critical thematic literature review and synthetic comparative analysis.

In regards to scientific analysis, the goals of NPG were achieved, considering that its concept and main characteristics were displayed in definitional terms as a trend in public management, emphasizing institutional cooperation and co-production, having strengths in social inclusion and weaknesses in the lack of participatory experience of the actors. Additionally, the authors created the original 6-CO coherent conceptual framework describing the flows in the NPG operation based on theoretical foundations. The analysis of theoretical sources not only allowed the collection of common and disconnected features of the reasoning behind the definition and depth of the NPG but also insufficient development of the theory in existing sources.

The paper demonstrates critical new scholarship surrounding the NPG theory because it (1) applies one of the latest trends in public management, (2) juxtaposes various academics' understanding of the concept and, most importantly, (3) advances the theory of NPG with the original 6-CO coherent conceptual framework as a practical implication of the theory originator.

Variations of human-versus-structure and within-humans at the organizational and the project level are critical in shaping the internal arrangement for effectiveness of project-based organization’s (PBOs) governance. Recent discourse presents governmentality at the organizational level and leadership at the project level as human agency of governance, whereas governance structures to be their counterpart. However, project-level mechanisms of governmentality that can help to understand possible variations among these governance dimensions remained veiled. This study uses institutional theory to explore these internal arrangements accommodated by variations of PBOs governance dimensions at the project level.

The study followed Eisenhardt protocols of multiple case study design using an abductive research approach. Considering the heterogeneity of governance as a phenomenon in literature, boundary conditions were established before theorizing the model of the study to avoid ambiguities and define the research scope. Five PBOs were chosen using theoretical sampling, yielding 70 interviews. Data were analyzed by constant comparison with theory, using replication logic and cross-case analysis.

Findings revealed that project managers perform a buffer function for governmentality at the project level. Identified mechanisms of governmentality at the project level included two downward mechanisms, i.e. communication and informal interactions of governors, and two upward mechanisms of adaptation and reciprocity by project managers and project team members. Cross-analysis for variations among PBOs’ governance at the project level revealed seven arrangements showcasing synergies or contrasts.

The study adds to organizational project management literature by advancing the significance of congruence between humans and structures in project governance. Furthermore, the synchronization of the project manager’s leadership style with the governmentality approach and governance structure of PBOs is of crucial importance at the project level. Findings suggest the same by showcasing synergetic versus contrasting internal arrangements accommodated in varying PBOs governance dimensions. Implications highlight that synergies among PBOs governance dimensions and project manager’s styles can minimize conflicts and inconsistencies in governance implementation, whereas contrasts might trigger them.

The paper studies types and mechanisms of vertical and horizontal multilevel institutional governance (IG) (multilevel governance [MLG]). The relation with exports is reviewed and quantified to attempt prioritizing institutional reforms fostering merchandise exports in Egypt.

The paper studies data (from 1996 till 2020) to estimate impact of IG on Egyptian merchandise exports using two autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) models: to test the World Governance Index (WGI) composite index, followed by its main indicators; and to determine governance priorities in Egypt. “Institutional” approach is adopted to assess mechanisms boosting Egyptian exports. Design comprises three sections – (1) conceptual and literature review, (2) main MLG mechanisms and (3) key findings of empirical results – to find out which institutional reforms enhance exports competitiveness in Egypt.

Among MLG different levels of governance, the macro level is highly related to boosting exports competitiveness. Institutional differentials between countries and regions affect competitive edge. In Egypt, results show that IG priorities that could foster exports are the rule of law, regulatory quality, government effectiveness and political stability and absence of violence.

By adopting IG mechanisms, i.e. legislative, organizational and digital; and instruments, e.g. National Single Window, Time Release Standards and others, Egyptian exports could reach new heights.

Exports competitiveness does not rely solely on monetary and fiscal factors; IG dynamics could be more important in Egypt. ARDL model for Egyptian merchandise exports using WGI 2021 dataset.

This study investigates how communication is used by a Swedish public authority to legitimate the responsibilization of preparedness, i.e. how the state encourages individual citizens to take more responsibility for their security.

A multimodal discursive approach drawing on multimodal narrative analysis of video clips and multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) is used to examine how the responsibilization of preparedness is legitimated in video material published on Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency's (MSB’s) YouTube channel.

The study finds that the responsibilization of preparedness is legitimated through an ongoing but evolving normalization of threat. The findings also show how responsibilization is legitimated in moralizing terms of individual contribution to society, which may indicate a return from neo-liberal values to more traditional Swedish collectivist values.

The study shows how communication around preparedness and responsibilization is discursively constructed and legitimated through multimodal features, while previous research has mainly focused on verbal or written communication.

This study aims to identify the origins, mechanisms and outcomes of applying behavioral insight in public policy research.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review to answer three research questions. The authors identified 387 primary studies, dated from January 2000 to April 2021 and coded them through a thematic analysis. Related studies were obtained through searching in Emerald, ScienceDirect, Sage, Springer, Wiley and Routledge.

The results identified eight themes for origins, 16 themes for mechanisms/techniques and 13 outcome-related themes. Through the thematic analysis, the major mechanisms of behavioral approach were found to be social marketing, information provision, social norms, incentives, affect, regulation design, framing, salience, defaults, simplification, networking, environment design, scheduled announcements, commitments, attitude-preference-behavior manifestation and combining behavioral and nonbehavioral mechanisms.

The findings of this review help policymakers to design or redesign policy elements.

This review provides the first systematic exploration of the existing literature on behavioral public policy.

Consumer confusion is an emerging phenomenon of interest that significantly drives choice behaviour. Considering the dearth of scholarly focus on confusion faced by consumers in a healthcare setting, this paper aims to conceptualize and validate a patient confusion model consisting of its drivers and outcomes.

Drawing upon adaptive decision-making framework and consumer confusion literature, patient confusion model has been developed. Empirical data of 310 patients from three private sector hospitals in India was collected through pen and paper survey administration. The hypothesized patient confusion model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to derive confirmatory results.

The results confirm the role of decision-making variables such as information overload, information similarity, information ambiguity, information asymmetry, patient involvement and physician-patient communication in the occurrence of patient confusion. A significant impact of confusion on switching intention was also confirmed, providing insights for healthcare managers.

The effect of confusion on switching intention of consumers found through the present study holds significant implications from a healthcare management standpoint. Dissemination of credible information, improved communication between doctors and patients and creation of organized channels of health information provision also represent some of the notable implications for healthcare managers to mitigate patient confusion.

This study presents an empirically validated model of patient confusion creating a research agenda for theory development in this emerging area. Consumer confusion represents a core consumer behaviour problem that is of utmost significance in the healthcare sector. This paper is one of the first and early attempts to address this research problem.