Hirschman's Theory Research Articles

An efficient implementation for linear convolution with reduced latency in FPGA

AbstractA recently developed linear convolution filter based on Hirschman theory has shown its advantage in saving computations compared with other convolution filters. Here, the Hirschman convolution filter is improved with the use of the split‐radix algorithm and explore its latency‐reduced advantage for the first time. A comparison of hardware resources in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) between the proposed Hirschman‐based filter and other convolution filters is presented. Simulation results indicate that the split‐radix Hirschman convolution filter achieves a promising reduction in latency by 18.15% on average with an acceptable power consumption rise by about 3.05%. In the case of a device capacity limited implementation, the proposed Hirschman convolution filter is still computationally attractive as it uses a small‐size originator function instead of larger Fourier transform.

A Study into the Relationship Between Whistleblowing, Organizational Commitment and Personal Ethical Values: Hirschman’s Exit, Voice and Loyalty in Tourism

Presently, unethical practices are a major concern in almost every sector. Among these industries is tourism. Requiring large expenditure of labor in particular is one of the causes underlying frequently observed unethical practices. The efforts to prevent such issues are of the utmost value for the sector’s long range sustainability, productivity, and economic contributions. The aim of this study is to discuss the results of the tourism employees with ethical values and high organizational commitment to disclose or not to disclose unethical practices in the enterprise within the framework of Hirschman's Exit, Voice and Loyalty theory and to enhance the understanding the consequences of whistleblowing. Under normal circumstances, an employee with serious ethical concerns and strong organizational commitment is expected not to remain silent about any unethical behavior. However, individuals are not frequently taken actions. From time to time, an employee may choose to take no action and ignore unethical behaviors. They may think that these misconducts will disappear or leave the organization in the belief that nothing in the organization will change nor will be as it should be. In this sense, in the study, the relationship between whistleblowing, personal ethical values and organizational commitment has been conceptually discussed and evaluated in terms of the tourism industry within the framework of Hirschman's Theory.

Crime, Disorder, and Territorial Stigmatization: Older Adults Living in Deprived Neighborhoods.

The existence of social problems, crime, and a diminishing sense of community are acknowledged challenges to residents of deprived neighborhoods. In research on deprived neighborhoods in Sweden, the perspectives of young residents and adults of working age dominate. This study explores how older adults in deprived neighborhoods in Sweden experience crime and disorder, and how they adapt and respond to these problems and the neighborhood's poor reputation. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 22 older adults who had lived 5 years or more in deprived areas of two cities in Sweden. Data were analyzed using Hirschman's theory of exit, voice, and loyalty with a thematic analysis. Most residents had positive things to say about their homes and neighborhoods, even if criminal acts such as shootings, drug dealing, arson, burglary, and knife attacks were part of everyday life. The residents attempted to manage these events with various strategies. Exit strategies included relocation and forms of adaptation and detachment. They used several voice strategies to actively try to solve the problems and engage with the community. Loyalty strategies-and relativizing-were used to defend their neighborhood reputation. The findings show we should move on from generalized notions of older adults as passive victims of their environment and highlight that some older adults are active agents in building communities in deprived neighborhoods. City improvement programs should extend support to older adults who wish to engage. Approaches are identified which may strengthen older adults' contributions in such neighborhoods.

Exit, voice or neglect: Understanding the choices faced by doctors experiencing barriers to leading health system change through the case of Sierra Leone

This paper presents a study from Sierra Leone that explored the experiences of doctors as they endeavored to improve the health care systems in which they worked. Twenty-eight interviews were conducted with doctors in Sierra Leone, complemented by long-standing experience of national health provision and research by the authors. Drawing on Hirschman's theory of ‘exit, voice and loyalty’, the paper's framework analysis elaborates the doctor's career decisions and choices under systematic political and economic constraints, and in particular, the specter of retribution, including posting to undesirable jobs and withholding of salaries. This retribution was considered a driver of exit by doctors from the system, and few examples were given of doctors successfully advocating for change through advocacy (‘voice’). We suggest that the relevance of Hirschman's theory to this setting is in drawing attention to the critical themes of retribution, opportunity, loyalties, and partial exits, ones often neglected in efforts to reduce emigration of doctors and strengthen their leadership. Ultimately, this paper critiques the overemphasis of mechanistic ‘capacity building’ in global health and recommends that health system strengthening must be viewed as a jointly political as well as technical exercise.

Impacts of joint municipal agencification on the democratic governance of waste management

PurposeThe study examines how introducing joint municipal arm's length bodies (ALBs) into municipal waste management has influenced the preconditions of democratic governance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors describe and explain the democratic implications of joint municipal agencification by reviewing the perspectives of representative and participative democracy. Through this approach, the authors apply the exit–voice framework developed by Albert Hirschman to highlight the potential roles and rights of citizens. This research includes country case studies of Finland and Norway. The authors analyse and systematize Finnish and Norwegian waste and organizational policies by reviewing national regulatory documents, commentaries and guidance materials to identify the fundamental missions and institutional traditions of the alternative organizational forms of joint ALBs.FindingsThe study findings highlight that joint agencification has an adverse effect on the democratic governance of waste management policy and services even though these are public monopoly services. They also demonstrate that all joint municipal ALBs limit the classic elements of representative democracy in general, and that private-law ALBs limit residents' rights to influence and participate.Originality/valueThis study contributes to local public management studies by applying Hirschman's theory to comparative reviews of joint agencification and ALBs. It revealed the similarities and differences between the different organizational forms of joint ALBs applied in Finland and Norway. It also demonstrated how the democratic rights of residents depend on how municipalities collaborate.

Civil Protests as an Informal Part of Institution of Administrative Complaints

The article analyzes the phenomenon of civil protests in the context of the transformation of the institution of administrative complaints. In Russian socio-economic conditions, a non-market feedback signal in the form of a complaints institute has traditionally been used to coordinate the flows of distribution within the framework of public property. The mechanism of the influence of complaints on decision-making in retrospect is investigated. Based on Hirschman's theory, the universal nature of contemporary complaints, including forms of civil protest, is substantiated. Their use is demonstrated in the field of management, in the public sector in the provision of services by organizations of various forms of ownership and in market competitive strategies of Western societies. The logic of the development of this signaling mechanism is necessary for understanding the current stage of the transformation of the institution of administrative complaints, depending on the bureaucratic apparatus, into form of equal dialogue with the authorities in Russia

Non‐financial Shareholder Activism: A Process Model for Influencing Corporate Environmental and Social Performance*

AbstractShareholders have become increasingly active in endeavouring to influence companies’ environmental and social practices. In comparison with the mature field of financially motivated shareholder activism, limited enquiries have been carried out on its non‐financial counterparts. This paper synthesizes the knowledge base through a review of the academic literature, exploring shareholder activism intended to affect corporate environmental and social performance. Theoretical perspectives appropriate to this phenomenon are critically appraised: in particular, insights from social movement theory, Hirschman's theory of exit, voice and loyalty and stakeholder salience theory, as well as the roles of signalling and symbolic management actions. Data from the literature are organized into a process model of non‐financial shareholder influence. Underpinned by the influencing context, this conceptualization centres on three primary shareholder interventions: divestment, dialogue and shareholder proposals. These interventions are enabled through a range of actors and tools: coalitions, non‐governmental organizations, codes and indices, the media and regulators. The interaction between interventions and the enabling actors and tools helps to determine managers’ perceptions of shareholder salience. These perceptions subsequently shape the organizational behaviours that affect companies’ symbolic and substantive environmental and social performance. An agenda to direct future research in this burgeoning field is articulated.

Comparing residents’ perceptions in townships and suburbs regarding service delivery by municipality under administration

The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of residents staying in suburbs and townships regarding the service delivered by a municipality under administration. The South African literature shows that residents in different locations behave differently when they receive poor service delivery from municipalities. Internationally, service delivery by municipalities has been measured using two research instruments. The research design was a survey and the sample size was 522 respondents. The convenient sampling technique was used to select them. The primary data were collected via face-to-face interviews, and a validated services perception (SERVPERF) questionnaire, developed by Cronin and Taylor, was adapted and used to collect data. The main finding of the study was that residents in the townships did not organize themselves and voice their dissatisfaction by embarking on protests, and they significantly agreed (Odds ratio = 0.54; P = 0.005; 95 confidence interval = 0.3516; 0.8279), more than the suburbs residents, that in the past eight months the service had improved. The study concludes with recommendations for future research and implications for municipal managers. Keywords: Hirschman theory, service delivery, SERVPERF, suburbs and townships residents. JEL Classification: M31

What you Should Know about Megaprojects and Why: An Overview

This paper takes stock of megaproject management, an emerging and hugely costly field of study, by first answering the question of how large megaprojects are by measuring them in the units of mega, giga, and tera, and concluding with how we are presently entering a new “tera era” of trillion-dollar projects. Second, total global megaproject spending is assessed, at US$6 to US$9 trillion annually, or 8% of the total global gross domestic product (GDP), which denotes the biggest investment boom in human history. Third, four “sublimes”—political, technological, economic, and aesthetic—are identified and used to explain the increased size and frequency of megaprojects. Fourth, the “iron law of megaprojects” is laid out and documented: Over budget, over time, over and over again. Moreover, the “break–fix model” of megaproject management is introduced as an explanation of the iron law. Fifth, Albert O. Hirschman's theory of the “Hiding Hand” is revisited and critiqued as unfounded and corrupting for megaproject thinking in both the academy and policy. Sixth, it is shown how megaprojects are systematically subject to “survival of the unfittest,” which explains why the worst projects get built rather than the best. Finally, it is argued that the conventional way of managing megaprojects has reached a “tension point,” in which tradition is being challenged and reform is emerging.

Acting and Reacting: Youth's Behavior in Corrupt Educational Settings

With its broader employability to the issues of underperformance that may emerge in educational systems internationally, this empirical study redefines and expands Albert Hirschman's theory of voice, exit, and loyalty within higher education. The article formulates a new education-embedded theoretical framework that explains reactionary behaviors of students in corrupt educational systems. The new corruption coping theory defines a set of coping mechanisms that students employ in reaction to failing institutions. Relying on the survey data collected from 762 students and interview-based data from 15 purposely sampled current students or recent graduates of the public higher education institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the study reinterprets the voice mechanism that Hirschman sees as a political tool capable of bringing about change within underperforming institutions as, ironically, severely diminished in its power when observed within a corrupt environment. This research similarly differentiates amongst various types of exit and finds that Bosnian students often react in ways not predicted by Hirschman's model, leading to the emergence of a novel corruption coping theory presented in this study.

Disengaged and disaffected young people: Surviving the system

There are counter‐narratives of youth as at risk and as buoyant and agentive. The article maps the conceptual terrain concerning resilience, well‐being, buoyancy, enjoyment and happiness and selects factors related to the successful navigation of schooling. It analyses data from a subset of a national data set, from 65 young people considered to be disaffected or disengaged by their school or college. It explores the perceptions of young people that the difficulties they encounter are in part a result of their own behaviour and in part a product of the system. Hirschman's theory of exit, voice, loyalty is used to explore their choices. The article concludes that schools act to maintain homeostasis and that a substantial minority of young people are at long‐term risk due to organisational and national unwillingness to decouple economic benefit from maintenance of the existing system.

Perspectives on Postwar Silence: Psychoanalysis, Political Philosophy, and Economic Theory

Hannah Arendt and Alexander and Margarete Mitscherlich produced influential accounts of the postwar West-German population's silence or inarticuleteness. The Mitscherlichs claimed that this silence was symptomatic of a blocked process of mourning; Arendt saw it as a legacy of brutal totalitarian rule. However, both viewed the rapid economic recovery as evidence of the German inability to engage in discursively mediated therapeutic and political processes. Frantic busyness was a form of silence. This paper presents a critical reassessment of these approaches. By drawing on Albert Hirschman's theory of exit and voice, it argues that economic activity possesses a communicative dimension. The alleged retreat from politics is not a symptom of muteness but rather indicates people's preference for an alternative mode of communication. Arendt and the Mitscherlich may be right in assuming a correlation between the postwar economic recovery and ostensible political apathy, but lack the conceptual means to clarify the relationship.

Proliferation Implications of Civil Nuclear Cooperation: Theory and a Case Study of Tito's Yugoslavia

Programs of international civil nuclear cooperation—of “Atoms for Peace”—have come under growing criticism for unintentionally fostering nuclear weapons proliferation in developing countries. However, drawing on the literature on international technology transfer and on Albert Hirschman's theory of exit, voice, and loyalty, this article argues that Atoms for Peace efforts may often seriously hamper developing countries’ nuclear weapons ambitions by empowering their scientific workers and by facilitating the brain drain to the developed world. The article then presents a case study of the historical nuclear program of Yugoslavia, which received very generous help from the Atoms for Peace programs of the United States, Soviet Union, and European states at a time when nonproliferation controls were minimal. The international ties of the Yugoslav nuclear program made its scientific workers much less likely to choose simple loyalty to the Tito regime, and much more likely to choose voice or exit, accelerating the program's ultimate collapse.

Cross‐cultural comparisons of consumer satisfaction ratings

PurposeThis paper seeks to propose Albert Hirschman's theory of “exit, voice and loyalty” as a complementary conceptual framework to Hofstede's cultural dimensions and use them in conjunction to compare consumer satisfaction with services across cultures.Design/methodology/approachA model of satisfaction with complex services (higher education) is developed and then tested in two different cultures, Colombia and Spain, with a sample of 879 students. Structural equation modeling based on the partial least squares algorithm is used to test the proposed model.FindingsColombian students are more satisfied with the educational system than Spanish ones. This is explained by cultural and contextual differences that pose greater restrictions on accessibility to higher education, provide fewer choice alternatives and present more switching costs for the Colombian student.Originality/valueThis study applies the conditions of Hirschman's theory in an international setting, offering a rich basis for understanding differences in consumer satisfaction that accounts for intra‐national diversity.

Lost in translation: Bringing Hirschman's concept of voice back into the spirit of capitalism

The New Spirit of Capitalism relied heavily upon the theory of organizational decline and the concepts of exit and voice developed by Albert O. Hirschman in his seminal essay, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty from 1970. As a result, capitalism and its spirit were thought within an organizational paradigm. However, the integration of Hirschman's theory was not unproblematic, since voice was excluded from the level of organizations, resulting in a failure to account for internal critique. By revisiting Hirschman's theory, the context in which it developed, and by juxtaposing this with the theory of The New Spirit of Capitalism, it is argued that the spatial metaphors of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of capitalism should be revised, along with a revision of the analogy between capitalism and an organization. Ultimately, critique always comes from ‘within’.

Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Pay: Evidence from the Public Workforce

We assess Hirschman's theory of exit, voice and loyalty in the context of voluntary exit from organizations in the public workforce. Specifically, we test the effects of loyalty and voice on the likelihood a person states their intention to leave. We assess these relationships using data from the Federal Human Capital Survey. Our statistical analysis provides evidence that perceptions about voice and loyalty limit exit at all levels of the organizational hierarchy. Yet, dissatisfaction with pay is also a substantial cause of intention to leave - and this effect is greatest for executive-level employees. We also show evidence for crowding when pay-based motivation is emphasized.

Exit, Voice, Loyalty, and Pay: Evidence from the Public Workforce

We assess Hirschman's theory of exit, voice, and loyalty in the context of voluntary exit from organizations in the public workforce. Specifically, we test the effects of loyalty and voice on the likelihood a person states their intention to leave. We assess these relationships using data from the Federal Human Capital Survey. Our statistical analysis provides evidence that perceptions about voice and loyalty limit exit at all levels of the organizational hierarchy. Yet, dissatisfaction with pay is also a substantial cause of intention to leave—and this effect is greatest for executive-level employees. We also show evidence for “motivation crowding” when pay-based motivation is emphasized.

Uma teoria de instituições em declínio: reavaliando saída, voz e lealdade de Hirschman para as instituições internacionais

Este artigo se propõe a adaptar a teoria de Hirschman para as Relações Internacionais. A partir de uma diferenciação entre as preferências dos Estados dentro de instituições internacionais, o modelo explicita as dinâmicas que surgem quando a qualidade institucional declina. Enquanto Estados fortes tentarão reformar a instituição por meio de ameaças de saída, Estados médios e fracos terão poucas alternativas. Três casos envolvendo os EUA são descritos e analisados.

Informal payment for health care and the theory of 'INXIT'.

Informal payments are known to be widespread in the post-communist health care systems of Central and Eastern Europe. However, their role and nature remains contentious, with the debate characterized by much polemic. This paper steps back from this debate to examine the theoretical basis for understanding the persistence of informal payments. The authors develop a cognitive behavioural model of informal payment, which draws on the theory of government failure and extends Hirschman's theory of 'exit, voice, loyalty', the behavioural responses to 'decline in firms, organizations and states'. It is argued that informal payment represents another possible behavioural reaction: 'inxit', which becomes important when the channels of exit and voice are blocked. The theory is applied to explain informal payments in Hungary, but can be shown to be relevant to other countries facing similar issues. The paper examines the proposed policies to tackle informal payments, and on the basis of the theory of 'inxit' it advocates that solutions should contain an appropriate balance between exit and voice to optimize the chances of maintaining a good standard of public services.

Italian Communism in Crisis

Achille Occhetto's proposal to transform the Italian Communist Party (PCI) into a postcommunist leftist party provides an opportunity to test Hirschman's theory of organizational loyalty. Party members were given the choices of remaining loyal to a reconstituted party, voicing approval or disapproval over this proposal, or exiting the party. The hypotheses that exit and voice varied together and that a particular kind of loyalty inhibited exist were tested using data from two party congressi di sezioni. The results clearly show exit from the party by `hardline' communists and to a Refounded Communist Party (RC). Additional tests of the relationship between the PCI and RC, as well as Italian election data, corroborate these findings and Hirschman's model.