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1 – 10 of 172
Open Access
Article
Publication date: 9 September 2022

Edmund Malesky, Tuan-Ngoc Phan and Anh Quoc Le

Single-party regimes increasingly use Subnational Performance Assessments (SPAs) – rankings of provinces and districts – to improve governance outcomes. SPAs assemble and…

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Abstract

Purpose

Single-party regimes increasingly use Subnational Performance Assessments (SPAs) – rankings of provinces and districts – to improve governance outcomes. SPAs assemble and publicize information on local government performance to facilitate monitoring and generate competition among officials. However, the evidence are sparse on their effects in this context. The authors argue that built-in incentive structures in centralized single-party regimes distort the positive impact of SPAs.

Design/methodology/approach

The staggered rollout of the Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) created a natural experiment. Due to 2010 budget constraints, the first iteration of the PAPI survey covered only 30 of Vietnam’s 63 provinces before covering all in 2011. The PAPI team used matching procedures to identify a statistical twin for each province before randomly selecting one from each pair. The authors use randomization inference to compare the outcomes of these control and treatment groups in 2011.

Findings

Exposure to PAPI helped improve almost all aspects of governance; however, significant evidence of prioritization bias exist. The positive effects only persisted for the dimension of administrative procedures, which was the one area of governance that was prioritized by the central government at the time. Other dimensions only registered short-term effects.

Originality/value

Our study provides an examination of the impact of SPAs in a single-party regime context. In addition, the authors leverage the natural experiment to identify information effects causally. The authors also look past short-term effects to compare outcomes for five years after the treatment occurred.

Details

Fulbright Review of Economics and Policy, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2635-0173

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 31 May 2022

Julio Urenda and Olga Kosheleva

While the main purpose of reporting – e.g. reporting for taxes – is to gauge the economic state of a company, the fact that reporting is done at pre-determined dates distorts the…

379

Abstract

Purpose

While the main purpose of reporting – e.g. reporting for taxes – is to gauge the economic state of a company, the fact that reporting is done at pre-determined dates distorts the reporting results. For example, to create a larger impression of their productivity, companies fire temporary workers before the reporting date and re-hire then right away. The purpose of this study is to decide how to avoid such distortion.

Design/methodology/approach

This study aims to come up with a solution which is applicable for all possible reasonable optimality criteria. Thus, a general formalism for describing and analyzing all such criteria is used.

Findings

This study shows that most distortion problems will disappear if the fixed pre-determined reporting dates are replaced with individualized random reporting dates. This study also shows that for all reasonable optimality criteria, the optimal way to assign reporting dates is to do it uniformly.

Research limitations/implications

This study shows that for all reasonable optimality criteria, the optimal way to assign reporting dates is to do it uniformly.

Practical implications

It is found that the individualized random tax reporting dates would be beneficial for economy.

Social implications

It is found that the individualized random tax reporting dates would be beneficial for society as a whole.

Originality/value

This study proposes a new idea of replacing the fixed pre-determining reporting dates with randomized ones. On the informal level, this idea may have been proposed earlier, but what is completely new is our analysis of which randomization of reporting dates is the best for economy: it turns out that under all reasonable optimality criteria, uniform randomization works the best.

Details

Asian Journal of Economics and Banking, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2615-9821

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 13 May 2017

Abstract

Details

Regression Discontinuity Designs
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-390-6

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 April 2023

Solomon Hopewell Kembo, Patience Mpofu, Saulo Jacques, Nevil Chitiyo and Brighton Mukorera

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) necessitated the need for “Hospital-at-home” improvisations that involve wearable technology to classify patients within households before…

Abstract

Purpose

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) necessitated the need for “Hospital-at-home” improvisations that involve wearable technology to classify patients within households before visiting health institutions. Do-It-Yourself wearable devices allow for the collection of health data leading to the detection and/or prediction of the prevalence of the disease. The sensitive nature of health data requires safeguards to ensure patients’ privacy is not violated. The previous work utilized Hyperledger Fabric to verify transmitted data within Smart Homes, allowing for the possible implementation of legal restrictions through smart contracts in the future. This study aims to explore privacy-enhancing authentication schemes that are operated by multiple credential issuers and capable of integration into the Hyperledger ecosystem.

Design/methodology/approach

Design Science Research is the methodology that was used in this study. An architecture for ABC-privacy was developed and evaluated.

Findings

While the privacy-by-design architecture enhances data privacy through edge and fog computing architecture, there is a need to provide an additional privacy layer that limits the amount of data that patients disclose. Selective disclosure of credentials limits the number of information patients or devices divulge.

Originality/value

The evaluation of this study identified Coconut as the most suitable attribute-based credentials scheme for the Smart Homes Patients and Health Wearables use case Coconut user-centric architecture Hyperledger integration multi-party threshold authorities public and private attributes re-randomization and unlinkable revelation of selective attribute revelations.

Details

International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2690-6090

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 13 June 2016

Hisahiro Ishijima, Eliudi Eliakimu and Jonathan Mcharo Mshana

The purpose of this paper is to assess causal relations between the implementation of the 5S approach and the reduction of patients’ waiting time at out patient departments (OPDs…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess causal relations between the implementation of the 5S approach and the reduction of patients’ waiting time at out patient departments (OPDs) of hospitals in Tanzania.

Design/methodology/approach

Patients’ waiting time was measured under the cluster randomized control trial (c-RCT). In all, 16 hospitals were chosen and divided into treatment and control groups using block randomization. Before the intervention, a baseline study was conducted at OPDs in all 16 hospitals. After one year of the intervention, the end-line study was carried out in both the groups. A comparison of the average waiting time reduction and Difference-in-Difference (DID) analysis was carried out to see the effect of the 5S approach on the reduction of patients’ waiting time.

Findings

Statistical significance in reduction of patients’ waiting time was seen in the medical records sections (p=0.002) and consultation rooms (p=0.020) in the intervention group. The same trend was also seen using DID analysis (−15.66 min in medical record, −41.90 min in consultation rooms).

Research limitations/implications

This study has the following limitations in terms of the data. The data were collected for only three days at the time of baseline survey, and again for three days at the time of the end-line survey from 16 hospitals. Moreover, piloted areas for the implementation of the 5S approach vary from hospital to hospital. There might be a bias in the measurement of a patient’s waiting time. Caveats are therefore needed in extrapolating the study results to other settings. Despite these caveats, the findings will provide important insights for implementing quality improvement programs in Tanzania and in other African countries for improvement of time factors.

Originality/value

This study used c-RCT, and has proven the effectiveness of the 5S approach in improving the working environment and reducing patients’ waiting time at OPDs in several hospitals at district level in Tanzania.

Details

The TQM Journal, vol. 28 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2731

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 13 May 2017

Abstract

Details

Regression Discontinuity Designs
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-390-6

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 26 July 2012

Rodney A. Lambert

Routine general practice (GP) care is rarely comprehensively described in clinical trials. This paper examines routine GP care within the lifestyle approach to managing panic

Abstract

Routine general practice (GP) care is rarely comprehensively described in clinical trials. This paper examines routine GP care within the lifestyle approach to managing panic (LAMP) study. The aim of this paper is to describe/discuss routine GP care for panic disorder (PD) patients within both study arms in the LAMP study. An unblinded pragmatic randomised controlled trial in 15 East of England GP practices (2 primary care trusts). Participants met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria for PD with/without agoraphobia. Follow-up measures recorded at 20 weeks/10 months following randomisation. Control arm, unrestricted routine GP care (practice appointments, referrals and prescriptions). Trial arm, occupational therapy-led lifestyle treatment comprising lifestyle review of fluid intake, diet pattern, exercise, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine. Primary outcome measure: beck anxiety inventory. At baseline, participants attended 2-3 times more GP appointments than population average, reducing at 10 months to 1.6 times population average for routine GP care and 0.97 population average for lifestyle arm. At 10 months, 33% fewer referrals (6 referrals; 0 mental health) than at baseline (9 referrals; 2 mental health) were made for lifestyle arm patients compared with 42% increase (from 12 referrals; 8 mental health at baseline to 17 referrals; 7 mental health) in GP care arm. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were prescribed most often. Benzodiazepines and beta-blockers were prescribed more often than tricyclic against current clinical guidelines. In conclusion, we found that PD patients at baseline were high healthcare resource users. Treatment in both study arms reduced resource use. Routine GP care requires further review for this patient group.

Details

Mental Illness, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2036-7465

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 6 June 2016

Jeremy Segrott, Heather Rothwell, Ilaria Pignatelli, Rebecca Playle, Gillian Hewitt, Chao Huang, Simon Murphy, Matthew Hickman, Hayley Reed and Laurence Moore

Involvement of parents/carers may increase effectiveness of primary school-based alcohol-misuse prevention projects through strengthening family-based protective factors, but…

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Abstract

Purpose

Involvement of parents/carers may increase effectiveness of primary school-based alcohol-misuse prevention projects through strengthening family-based protective factors, but rates of parental engagement are typically low. This paper reports findings from an exploratory trial of a school-based prevention intervention – Kids, Adults Together (KAT), based on the Social Development Model, which aimed to promote pro-social family communication in order to prevent alcohol misuse, and incorporated strategies to engage parents/carers. The purpose of this paper is to assess the feasibility and value of conducting an effectiveness trial of KAT.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was a parallel-group cluster randomised exploratory trial with an embedded process evaluation. The study took place in south Wales, UK, and involved nine primary schools, 367 pupils in Years 5/6 (aged 9-11 years) and their parents/carers and teachers. Questionnaires were completed by pupils at baseline and four month follow-up, and by parents at six month follow-up.

Findings

Overall KAT was delivered with good fidelity, but two of five intervention schools withdrew from the study without completing implementation. In total, 50 per cent of eligible parents participated in the intervention, and KAT had good acceptability among pupils, parents and teachers. However, a number of “progression to effectiveness trial” criteria were not met. Intermediate outcomes on family communication (hypothesised to prevent alcohol misuse) showed insufficient evidence of an intervention effect. Difficulties were encountered in identifying age appropriate outcome measures for primary school-age children, particularly in relation to family communication processes. The study was unable to find comprehensive methodological guidance on exploratory trials.

Research limitations/implications

It would not be appropriate to conduct an effectiveness trial as key progression criteria relating to intervention and trial feasibility were not met. There is a need for new measures of family communication which are suitable for primary school-age children, and more guidance on the design and conduct of exploratory/feasibility trials.

Originality/value

KAT achieved high rates of parental involvement, and its theoretical framework and processes could be adapted by other interventions which experience difficulties with recruitment of parents/carers.

Details

Health Education, vol. 116 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-4283

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 31 March 2023

Michela Tinelli, Dominic Ashley-Timms, Laura Ashley-Timms and Ruth Phillips

This article reports the results of a randomized field experiment that tested the effects of a new business intervention among managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises…

Abstract

Purpose

This article reports the results of a randomized field experiment that tested the effects of a new business intervention among managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in England.

Design/methodology/approach

Individual managers (learners) were randomly assigned in clusters (companies) to either an intervention group (265 learners; 40 SMEs) receiving a novel virtual, blended training program designed to stimulate a change in management behavior or a no-intervention group (118 learners; 22 SMEs).

Findings

The results show that the primary objective of changing management behavior to use more of an Operational Coaching™ style of management has been achieved (to a statistically significant level), and this is against the backdrop of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. Positive trends in SME productivity metrics were also observed in the intervention group companies.

Originality/value

These important results could be indicative of the economic and productivity impact that a change in management behavior could have, and they warrant serious further investigation.

Details

Journal of Work-Applied Management, vol. 15 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2205-2062

Keywords

Content available

Abstract

Details

Clinical Governance: An International Journal, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7274

1 – 10 of 172