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1 – 10 of 21Juliet Ann Musso, Christopher Weare and Robert W. Jackman
The goal is to illuminate the requisites for the implementation of performance management reforms in a public bureaucracy.
Abstract
Purpose
The goal is to illuminate the requisites for the implementation of performance management reforms in a public bureaucracy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs a configurational approach, qualitative comparative analysis, that identifies combinations of political and organizational conditions necessary and/or sufficient for success. The analysis applies the success factor identified in the literature in analyzing the experience of departments involved in a city-wide reform in Los Angeles. The analysis utilizes two rounds of survey data combined with case observations to evaluate the presence of these conditions. Cross-case comparisons employ Boolean logic to identify configurations associated with successful system implementation.
Findings
The analysis identifies several distinct configurations of conditions that appear in departments that implemented the reform. One emphasizes mayoral support, while others emphasize leadership in combination with other organizational capacities.
Practical implications
The analysis yields several insights for managers. First, no silver bullet such as strong leadership assures reform implementation. Second, there are multiple avenues to reform. An organization that lacks some prerequisites – such as leadership or metrics – may succeed in the presence of other features such as an innovative culture or external political support. Finally, the study provides a bracing council that even under favorable conditions, performance management reforms may fail to take root, for reasons that can be difficult to predict.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the importance of considering configurations of conditions rather than focusing on conditions independently. Also, it highlights the importance of equifinality, the notion that observed outcomes can have multiple causes, a perspective typically missing in correlational analyses.
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Stephanie von Hinke, Jonathan James, Emil Sorensen, Hans H. Sievertsen and Nicolai Vitt
This chapter shows the prevalence, trends and heterogeneity in maternal smoking around birth in the United Kingdom (UK), focussing on the war and post-war reconstruction period in…
Abstract
This chapter shows the prevalence, trends and heterogeneity in maternal smoking around birth in the United Kingdom (UK), focussing on the war and post-war reconstruction period in which there exists surprisingly little systematic data on (maternal) smoking behaviours. Within this context, the authors highlight relevant events, the release of new information about the harms of smoking and changes in (government) policy aimed at reducing smoking prevalence. The authors show stark changes in smoking prevalence over a 30-year period, highlight the onset of the social gradient in smoking as well as genetic heterogeneities in smoking trends.
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Daniela Sorrentino, Pasquale Ruggiero, Alessandro Braga and Riccardo Mussari
This paper delves into a pivotal juncture within the co-production literature, intersecting with the ongoing debate about performance challenges in public sector accounting…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper delves into a pivotal juncture within the co-production literature, intersecting with the ongoing debate about performance challenges in public sector accounting scholarship. It explores how public managers conceive and measure the performance of co-produced public services.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study is conducted on three instances of neighbourhood watching – that is, a type of collective co-production – in a homogeneous institutional setting. The analysis and interpretation of empirical data are guided by a systematic conceptual space delineating the qualities that performance criteria can take in contexts where public services are produced.
Findings
Findings reveal that when the co-production activation is driven by both state and lay actors, public managers tend to conceptualise and measure its performance in a way that contributes to building a more structured co-productive space, where the roles to play, how to interact and what to achieve are clearly defined.
Originality/value
This paper breaks new ground by scrutinising the conceptualisation of performance in settings where public services involve actors beyond traditional public administrations. By exploring the diverse “shapes” and meanings that performance can take in co-production arrangements, this paper enriches discussions on how public sector accounting can inform co-production literature.
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Fernando F. Padró, Karen Trimmer, Heejin Chang and Jonathan H. Green
The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which TQM has influenced the legal system in Australia, an area seldom investigated in the quality or legal literature.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which TQM has influenced the legal system in Australia, an area seldom investigated in the quality or legal literature.
Design/methodology/approach
Documentary and policy analysis of legislation, rules and rulemaking documentation based on a partial application of historical-policy analysis (HPA). Textual analysis was based on Dean and Bowen's (1994) definition of TQM and Vinni's (2007) review of new public management and Swiss (1992) “reformed TQM” concepts.
Findings
Australia's Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act of 2011 and supporting legal documents such as Guidance Notes include language reflective of TQM principles, providing evidence that present-day administrative law schemes include TQM practices and tools to undergird procedures of regulatory expectations (sometimes in the form of standards), monitoring and general operations. Oftentimes, it is the supporting legal documentation where TQM practices are found and operationalized.
Research limitations/implications
This is a proof-of-concept research study to determine the feasibility to identify TQM concepts within the existing language of legal statutes and supporting regulatory documentation. As such this study worked out the preliminary research challenges in performing this type of analysis.
Practical implications
Understanding TQM's impact on legal systems expands the system's perspective of organizations that do not always factor in the influence government policy has on organizational behaviours and outlooks. More specifically, understanding TQM's influence sheds insight on regulatory requirements imposed on a sector and the normative aspects of regulatory compliance that impact the operations and strategic planning of organizations.
Social implications
The article provides an example of how legal administrative rulemaking influences organizational operational and strategic activities to remain viable in the organization's business or industrial sector.
Originality/value
There are few research papers or literature reviews pertaining to the subject of TQM concepts embedded in laws and regulations, most of which date from the 1980s through early 2000s.
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Mehroosh Tak, Kirsty Blair and João Gabriel Oliveira Marques
High levels of child obesity alongside rising stunting and the absence of a coherent food policy have deemed UK’s food system to be broken. The National Food Strategy (NFS) was…
Abstract
Purpose
High levels of child obesity alongside rising stunting and the absence of a coherent food policy have deemed UK’s food system to be broken. The National Food Strategy (NFS) was debated intensely in media, with discussions on how and who should fix the food system.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a mixed methods approach, the authors conduct framing analysis on traditional media and sentiment analysis of twitter reactions to the NFS to identify frames used to shape food system policy interventions.
Findings
The study finds evidence that the media coverage of the NFS often utilised the tropes of “culture wars” shaping the debate of who is responsible to fix the food system – the government, the public or the industry. NFS recommendations were portrayed as issues of free choice to shift the debate away from government action correcting for market failure. In contrast, the industry was showcased as equipped to intervene on its own accord. Dietary recommendations made by the NFS were depicted as hurting the poor, painting a picture of helplessness and loss of control, while their voices were omitted and not represented in traditional media.
Social implications
British media’s alignment with free market economic thinking has implications for food systems reform, as it deters the government from acting and relies on the invisible hand of the market to fix the system. Media firms should move beyond tropes of culture wars to discuss interventions that reform the structural causes of the UK’s broken food systems.
Originality/value
As traditional media coverage struggles to capture the diversity of public perception; the authors supplement framing analysis with sentiment analysis of Twitter data. To the best of our knowledge, no such media (and social media) analysis of the NFS has been conducted. The paper is also original as it extends our understanding of how media alignment with free market economic thinking has implications for food systems reform, as it deters the government from acting and relies on the invisible hand of the market to fix the system.
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Odai Khamaiseh, Mohammad Alghababsheh, Saowanit Lekhavat and Mushfiqur Rahman
This study examines the impact of inter-organisational justice (i.e. distributive, procedural and interactional) in the buyer–supplier relationship on supply risk and, in turn, on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the impact of inter-organisational justice (i.e. distributive, procedural and interactional) in the buyer–supplier relationship on supply risk and, in turn, on a firm’s marketing and financial performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured survey was administered both online and in-person to Jordan-based manufacturing companies. The 137 responses received were analysed using partial least structural equation modelling.
Findings
The study found that while establishing both procedural and interactional justice in the relationship has a negative impact on supply risk, promoting distributive justice, surprisingly, has no impact. Moreover, supply risk was found to be detrimental to the firm’s marketing and financial performance.
Research limitations/implications
This study considers only the direct role of inter-organisational justice in reducing supply risk. Future research could enhance our understanding of this role by exploring the underlying mechanisms and conditions that could govern it.
Practical implications
Managers can alleviate supply risk by ensuring procedural and interactional justice in the relationship through involving suppliers in the decision-making processes, consistently adhering to established procedures and communicating transparent and ample information.
Social implications
Addressing supply risk can help in maintaining community resilience and economic stability.
Originality/value
The study highlights inter-organisational justice as a new approach to mitigating supply risk. Moreover, by examining how supply risk can affect a firm’s marketing performance, it also highlights a new implication of supply risk. Furthermore, by exclusively examining the impact of supply risk on a firm’s financial performance, the study provides a more nuanced interpretation of the effect of supply risk and how it can be reduced.
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Eric Owusu Boahen and Emmanuel Constantine Mamatzakis
There are variations in religious social norms and legal environments around the world. In this paper, we aim to examine the interaction between variations in religious social…
Abstract
Purpose
There are variations in religious social norms and legal environments around the world. In this paper, we aim to examine the interaction between variations in religious social norms and legal environments on real activities manipulations and expense misclassification using a global sample of 63 countries. Our inquiry is motivated by a paucity of research on the interaction between legal environment and religion on earnings management practices in an international setting.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on a global sample of 63 countries to examine the effect of variations in religious social norms and legal environments on the trade-off between expense misclassification and real activities earnings management practices. Firm-specific financial data come from Global Compustat. Religion data are obtained from World Values Surveys of the World Bank. We obtain legal environment scores from the International Country Risk Guide.
Findings
Findings suggest that the interaction between law and religion serves as constraints on both classification shifting and real activities manipulation around the world. We find that religion strengthens the weak legal environment and the strong legal environment strengthens the weak religious environment to decrease both real activities manipulation and classification shifting when law and religion interact in an international setting. Therefore, our results contradict Zang's (2012) earnings management trade-off evidence. Again, our results contradict Malikov et al.’s (2018) evidence that mandatory International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption is associated with increased real activities manipulation.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to 63 countries limiting the generalizability of the findings.
Originality/value
This study provides novel evidence and shows that there is a link between law and religion. The interaction between law and religion decreases expense misclassification and real activities manipulation. We contribute that the interaction between religion and law benefits firms and increases shareholder value as real activities manipulation decreases. Therefore, strengthening the legal environment will complement religion, IFRS and other monitoring mechanisms put in place to mitigate unethical expense misclassification and real activities earnings manipulation around the world.
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Eugene Lee, Renee Mitson and Hao Xu
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of leaders’ use of motivational language on psychological relatedness and its effect on employee well-being in flexible and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of leaders’ use of motivational language on psychological relatedness and its effect on employee well-being in flexible and remote working conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey among 375 full-time working professionals in the US was conducted with varying frequencies of remote work arrangements. For the analysis, we used a series of PROCESS analyses to examine the moderating effect of leaders’ motivational language use on the relationship between participants’ remote work status and relatedness, with employee well-being as the dependent variable.
Findings
The findings revealed a significant moderating effect of leaders’ perlocutionary (direction-giving) language use on the relationship between employees’ remote work status and relatedness. Specifically, the relationship between remote work status and relatedness was stronger when the use of perlocutionary (direction-giving) language gradually increased. Such enhanced relatedness, in turn, generated higher satisfaction and psychological well-being. The study shows the strategic advantage of direction-giving language in enhancing relatedness, thereby contributing to higher levels of employee satisfaction and psychological well-being in remote work environments.
Originality/value
The originality of this article lies in its integration of motivational language theory and self-determination theory to explore the well-being of employees within flexible and remote work status. Furthermore, we conceptualize remote work as a continuous variable with different degrees of flexibility, ranging from occasional telecommuting to fully remote work, allowing for a nuanced understanding of how leaders’ use of motivational language interacts with varying levels of remote work arrangements to influence employee well-being.
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Taking instances from extant findings from the literature, the study aims to examine the community perception toward renewable energy (RE) off-grid (mini-grid/microgrid…
Abstract
Purpose
Taking instances from extant findings from the literature, the study aims to examine the community perception toward renewable energy (RE) off-grid (mini-grid/microgrid) intervention, the underlying rationales for engagement of communities in RE off-grid projects, the different alternatives/models to engage communities in various phases of RE off-grid project deployment.
Design/methodology/approach
The study has followed the structured literature review to explore the identified research question of the study.
Findings
Based on findings from the review, the framework for effective community engagement in RE mini-grid projects is suggested. Furthermore, the study also draws suggestions and implications for future research and practice.
Practical implications
Based on such understanding the present study offers the framework which suggests the steps for the engagement of the communities in the off-grid projects. The key steps are managing the perception of the community (including generation of awareness among the community), planning for the benefits of the community, linkage the sustainable development goals (SDG), planning for the inclusion of the community and measuring performance (in the line of social and economic criteria and SDG).
Originality/value
This study finds the gap in the literature on the nexus of community, off-grid energy projects and SDG. Following the findings from the scholars in this field, a few gaps in the policy and practice have been highlighted which could be useful for practitioners and policymakers in this area.
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