Institutional Decisions Research Articles

Feasibility documents as critical structuring objects: An approach to the study of documents in digital research production

Documents have been increasingly recognised as important objects of investigation in Science and Technology Studies (STS); however, so far, much less attention has been given to the study of documents produced in Digital Humanities. The author proposes therefore to use the method of the ‘STS of documents’ and analyse Feasibility documents that aim to assess technical and design requirements based on research questions and to organise a project workflow. Drawing on the ethnography of King’s Digital Lab, the article investigates Feasibility documents produced by the lab within the Agile-based Software Development Lifecycle framework. The article aims to show that Feasibility documents (1) inform ethnographic work about lab workflow and management and in doing so, are able to capture the interconnectedness of work layers and practices; (2) enable an empirical analysis of digital research projects and the process of translation from research questions, to methods, to technical solutions; (3) are critical structuring objects that structure the research process and relationships between involved actors and are structured by local institutional strategies and decisions. The author conducts a ‘feasibility analysis’ that reveals the project management and development stages: the analytical process (the translation of research questions into technical solutions); the production process (the move from technical and design practices to research answers) and the infrastructure and management process (project workflow and sustainability solutions). Drawing on Agre’s critical technical practice and Digital Humanities’ theories of critical production, the article seeks to shift attention from end-product digital artefacts towards the complex process of their creation, which can unpack a range of social, technological and management issues. In doing so, it also aims to provide a methodological framework for the analysis of documents produced in Digital Humanities that have the potential to unearth new questions about the socio-technical nature of digital production.

A unified framework for exploring the determinants of online social networks (OSNs) on institutional investors’ capital market investment decision

Online social networks (OSNs) are effusively emerging information dissemination platforms for capital market investors' as in other settings. The insinuation of OSNs for institutional investors' investment decisions in the capital market cannot be eluded in today's world. This study aims to determine the factors that influence institutional investors' capital market investing decisions and the level to which each factor influences their decision. It presents a comprehensive framework that incorporates TAM and valence frameworks while also analyzing institutional theory, resource-based view, FASB framework, and transaction cost theory. A mixed-method approach is proposed, consisting of expert interviews and a field survey. An online structured questionnaire was used to perform a field survey, and 285 data points were obtained from capital market institutional investors in Bangladesh. The data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The suggested comprehensive model outperforms previous models. Proposed factors (e.g., institutional pressure and cost-benefit dimension), as well as perceived usefulness, are strong predictors of intention to use. Indirect drivers of intention to use include another hypothesized construct (e.g., situational context) and perceived ease of use. The decision to engage in the capital market is highly influenced by the intention to use OSNs. It is worth noting that the predicted relationship between situational context and perceived usefulness, as well as the relationship between perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, are both highly significant. Stimulatingly, proposed moderators, namely organizational IS capability, significantly moderates the different relationships of the unified model. Surprisingly, perceived risk has not to impact on OSNs adoption. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as other discussions, are also presented.

Post-Brexit European Map: the New Continental Status Quo and Institutional Decision-Making

Summary Brexit became part of the European public consciousness following the 2016 referendum. We are only just starting to realize the actual effects and consequences of the UK’s withdrawal in multiple issues. The article analyzes the new, post-Brexit continental status quo and the changing trends in institutional decision-making. The position and dominance of the Member States are reflected in their role in the EU institutions. The weight of the Member States in decision-making also has a significant impact on the development of individual common policies. Brexit has strengthened the dominance of Germany and France. However, it also affected the position of Central and Eastern European states. Poland has become one of the “big Member States” that could make the combined dominance of the Visegrád states (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia) more relevant in forming the future of the EU..

What Makes a Trauma Patient "Pediatric"? Survey of Providers' Admission Decision Making for Pediatric Trauma Patients.

Only a fraction of pediatric trauma patients are treated in pediatric-specific facilities, leaving the remaining to be seen in centers that must decide to admit the patient to a pediatric or adult unit. Thus, there may be inconsistencies in pediatric trauma admission practices among trauma centers. Describe current practices in admission decision making for pediatric patients. An email survey was distributed to members of three professional organizations: The American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, Society of Trauma Nurses, and Pediatric Trauma Society. The survey contained questions regarding pediatric age cutoffs, institutional placement decisions, and scenario-based assessments to determine mitigating placement factors. There were 313 survey responses representing freestanding children's hospitals (114, 36.4%); children's hospitals within general hospitals (107, 34.2%), and adult centers (not a children's hospital; 90, 28.8%). The mean age cutoff for pediatric admission was 16.6 years. The most reported cutoff ages were 18 years (77, 25.6%) and 15 years (76, 25.2%). The most common rationales for the age cutoffs were "institutional experience/tradition" (139, 44.4%) and "physician preference" (89, 28.4%). There was no single widely accepted age cutoff that distinguished pediatric from adult trauma patients for admission placement. There was significant variability between and within the types of facilities, with noted ambiguity in the definition of a "pediatric" patient. Thresholds appear to be based primarily on subjective criteria such as traditions or preferences rather than scientific data. Institutions should strive for objective, evidence-based policies for determining the appropriate placement of pediatric patients.

KOBİ’ler için para vakfına dayalı kredi garantisi modeli:seçilmiş vakalar ve model önerisi

This conceptual paper primarily explores the current applications of credit guarantee (CG) in selected government institutions. Two CG government programs have been selected. The theoretical discussions have covered the underpinnings concepts, mainly kafalah contract and cash waqf. To this effect, the shariah stand on charging fees for kafalah has been highlighted along with the latest resolutions and decisions of shariah academies and institutions are cited. The discussions of the paper resulted in a conceptual CG framework based on cash waqf. The qualitative method is used, and an extensive desk review of the existing literature has been conducted. This paper found that the Malaysian CG program has a special Islamic scheme to offer CG, nonetheless the program uses the concept of Kafalah bil-ujrah where it charges fees directly from the client with various rates. This paper argues that cash waqf perfectly fits as a source of funding for providing CG.

Diagnoses and special educational support. A study of institutional decision-making of provision of special educational support for children at school

ABSTRACT This study investigates what role diagnoses play in institutional decision-making in regards to provision of special educational support and in the referral of pupils from mainstream schooling to special needs schools or classes. During the past decades, many countries have witnessed a radical increase in the number of children receiving psychiatric diagnoses, and increasing demands for special educational support. This development raises the question of how these two observations relate, and if psychiatric diagnoses serve as a prerequisite for allocating support. This study uses an institutional ethnographic approach to analyse qualitative data from four Danish municipal referral committees, processing 13 children’s cases. In these settings, representatives of school authorities and educational psychologists decide if a child should be offered special educational support. The results show that the committees do not use diagnoses as direct arguments for their decisions. However, the institutional setup of the referral system creates an expectation that children referred to the committees already are diagnosed, as the types of special educational support are organised according to diagnostic categories. When a child is identified as experiencing problems at school, this expectation might prompt schools, parents or educational psychologists to request that a psychiatric assessment is carried out.

Macroeconomic Forecast Model System Based on Digital Information and Blockchain Technology

Since the reform and opening up, China’s economy has developed rapidly, becoming the second largest economy in the world. The state of macroeconomic development has a great influence on the government’s policy introduction and the investment decisions of individual institutions. Therefore, forecasting the macroeconomy is of great significance to the country. This paper aims to study the macroeconomic forecasting model system based on digital information and blockchain technology. This paper proposes an artificial neural network prediction algorithm based on digital information and blockchain technology, and the artificial neural network and particle swarm algorithm are combined to become the hybrid artificial neural network algorithm, and the conception of the establishment of the macroeconomic forecast model is proposed. The experimental results of this paper show that according to the prediction results of artificial neural network, the prediction and actual error in 2010 is 0.10, while the new method proposed in this paper predicts the error of 0.056. In 2016, the prediction error based on artificial neural network was 0.14, while the prediction result of the new method proposed in this paper showed an error of 0.008. In each year’s economic forecast, the neural network model of the new method proposed in this paper has higher prediction accuracy and smaller error. It can be seen that the neural network model based on artificial neural network and PSO algorithm proposed in this paper is beneficial to macroeconomic forecasting.

The dark side of democracy popular sovereignty, decolonisation and dictatorship

This paper argues that we must look to the politics of popular sovereignty,‎ and in particular its unfolding in the period after the Second World War, for ‎the origin of the postcolonial condition, its specific vulgarity and temporality.‎ Following Arendt, the paper proposes that as a democratic practice popular‎ sovereignty transforms the ’people’ into absolutist subject, one that is necessarily ‎simple, at one with itself and exercising supreme authority over its territory.‎ Where such a people cannot be convened or institutionalised, democracy‎ tends either towards dictatorship or oligarchy or society itself fragments and ‎is at risk of dissolution. This has especially been the case on the African continent‎ where the new states that emerged after independence from European ‎Empires (and from settler-colonialism) were home to multitudes of great and ‎wide heterogeneity, without long histories of living together in common and‎ without, therefore, traditions and institutions of collective decision-making.‎

Creating Mature Blended Education: the European Maturity Model Guidelines

In recent decades, higher education has embraced the concept of blended teaching, the design and facilitation of online and face-to-face learning activities. As such initiatives are embedded in the formal context of an institution, educational managers and other decision makers are in search of evidence for creating sustainable conditions that facilitate and support blended teaching. In this paper, the authors present the guidelines articulated by the European Maturity Model that address such concerns. These were developed during a three-year joint effort between seven European project partners. For each guideline, background information in line with the foundations of the European Maturity Model is included, as well as examples and references to predominantly open access resources. It is hoped that the results might inspire key actors within higher education or scholars that are investigating models for continuous improvement in the field of blended teaching and education.

Zašto je bugarska teza o makedonskom identitetu pogrešna?

Bulgarian theses that: Macedonians have Bulgarian roots, while the Macedonian language is a dialect of the Bulgarian language; and, that the Macedonian identity is a „product“ of the Comintern, ie., of Josiph Broz Tito and Josiph Visarionovic Stalin, are wrong. More historical facts show that the Macedonian and Bulgarian nations come from different origin, whose settled in the territory of today's Balkan Peninsula in different periods and from two different parts of the world. „Macedonians are the South Slavic people, ... descendants of the old Slavic tribes, who inhabited the Balkan Peninsula in the 6th and 7th centuries ...“, while the Bulgarians are the South Slavic people who inhabit the eastern part of the Balkans. Their origin is linked to Asia. Based on the data of ancient Chinese chronicles, it is considered that the language of the Proto-Bulgarians was part of the Altaic language community, i.e. its Turkish branch, which also included Huns, Avars, Hazars, Oguz, Pechenegs, Kumans and others“. As is already known, in the past members of today's Macedonian nation, „by force or kindness“, were presented as an integral part not only of the Bulgarian, but also of the Serbian and Greek nations. In the 19th century, like any other nation, Macedonians fought for their national rights, but for some reasons, they managed to realize their national aspirations until August 2, 1944. Macedonian language is similar to other Slavic languages and especially to the Bulgarian and Serbian languages, which belong to the so-called Indo-European language group. The Macedonian language was officially codified in 1945 and, like other languages, enjoys the same status in all international institutions, including the UN. That Macedonian identity and language are different from Bulgarian identity and language in the past has been confirmed by various personalities and documents, including by: Ambassador of Bulgaria in Tirana, Albania – Janko Peev (in 1938); French writer, publicist and politician Victor Berar; French university professor - Slavist Andre Mazon; and Albanian politician, diplomat and publicist Ekrem Bey Vlora. The above mentioned and many other authors speak in a clear way about the existence of the Macedonian identity and language, which is different from the Bulgarian identity and language. Therefore, it can be concluded from the above that the Bulgarian theses about the alleged common origin of Macedonians with Bulgarians are scientifically incorrect, and their insistence Macedonian side to accept the alleged „historical truth“, conditioning even the start of Northern Macedonia's EU membership negotiations, is more than absurd. In my opinion, the approach of the EU members that allowed such behaviour of Bulgarian politicians and any other EU member states at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century is even more absurd. In other words, instead of EU members being consistent in applying their European values, regarding respect for the sovereign right of every nation on its national affiliation and instead insisting on respecting and implementing by the Bulgarian side numerous decisions of European institutions, recognizing the existence and rights of Macedonian minorities in Bulgaria, they allow current Bulgarian politicians to deal with absurd things, characteristic of the 19th century.

Trusting COVID-19 vaccines as individual and social goal.

Trust in vaccines and in the institutions responsible for their management is a key asset in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. By means of a structured multi-scales survey based on the socio-cognitive model of trust, this study investigates the interplay of institutional trust, confidence in COVID-19 vaccines, information habits, personal motivations, and background beliefs on the pandemic in determining willingness to vaccinate in a sample of Italian respondents (N = 4096). We observe substantial trust in public institutions and a strong vaccination intention. Theory-driven structural equation analysis revealed what factors act as important predictors of willingness to vaccinate: trust in vaccine manufacturers (which in turn is supported by trust in regulators), collectivist goals, self-perceived knowledgeability, reliance on traditional media for information gathering, and trust in institutional and scientific sources. In contrast, vaccine hesitancy, while confined to a minority, is more prominent in less educated and less affluent respondents. These findings can inform institutional decisions on vaccine communication and vaccination campaigns.

Analyzing national databases in student affairs assessment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

AbstractWhen local data are not immediately available, student affairs professionals may wish to consider data from large, representative samples to support institutional decisions. Large‐scale, publicly‐accessible databases, like those provided by the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics or Indiana University's Center for Postsecondary Research, can be particularly useful for small, private, liberal arts, minority‐serving institutions (MSIs), like historically Black colleges/universities (HBCUs), that may have fewer resources due to long‐standing structural inequities for dedicated assessment staff, research infrastructure, and new data collection. In this article, the author addresses this issue offering practical tips, promising practices, and examples for student affairs assessment.

Development of forecast information for institutional decision-makers: landslides in India and cyclones in Mozambique

Abstract. There remains a gap between the production of scientifically robust forecasts and the translation of these forecasts into useful information such as daily “bulletins” for decision-makers in early warning systems. There is significant published literature on best practice in communicating risk information but very little to guide and provide advice on the process of how these bulletins have been, or should be, developed. This paper reviews two case studies where bulletins were developed for national and district-level government agencies and humanitarian responders: daily reports in response to cyclones Idai and Kenneth in Mozambique and prototype landslide forecast bulletins in the Nilgiris and Darjeeling districts of India. Primary data were collected from producers and intermediaries of the bulletins via interview, and secondary data were analysed on iterative changes in the bulletin development, minutes from internal discussions, and feedback from users to extract learning on both the content and process of developing the bulletins. There were significant similarities in the type of content included in the bulletins, such as the layout, choice of words, and use of visualisation that was consistent with published best practices. Both case studies experienced challenges dealing with uncertainty, complexity, and whether to include advice. There were also similarities in the processes and approaches taken to develop the bulletins. Both case studies took an iterative approach, developed feedback mechanisms, benefitted from experienced multidisciplinary teams, and emphasised the need for strong inter-relationships and the importance and value of preparedness and protocols. A major challenge was the difficulty in balancing science capabilities, including issues related to data scarcity, with user needs, which did not become significantly easier to deal with given more time availability. In particular, there were tensions between developing new forecast products that were urgently needed by users against the limited time for testing and refinement of those forecasts and the risk of misinforming decisions due to uncertainty in the information based on limited data. The findings indicate that whilst more research is needed into existing or best practice processes to develop content for forecast bulletins, there is an existing body of experiential and intuitive knowledge and learning that already exists but that is not yet captured in an appropriate format that could be of significant interest and value to those developing forecast information. This paper goes some way to capturing some of the learning from translating scientific forecasts into useful information, in particular on both the content and the process of developing forecast bulletins for decision-making.

Social Economic Benefits of an Underground Heritage: Measuring Willingness to Pay for Karst Caves in Italy

Karst caves are widespread in Europe, especially in the Mediterranean area. Besides their purely environmental functions, they often are important tourist destinations and contribute to the so-called identity amenities or landscape beauties of a territory. In spite of their interest and tourism potential, economists have paid little attention to karst caves and their economic value. In this paper, the contingent valuation method (CVM) was applied to investigate tourists’ preferences and estimate the monetary value attributed to karst caves, and in particular to the Pradis Caves, Friuli Venezia Giulia region (Italy). 540 visitors of the area took part in a face-to-face contingent valuation survey. Mean willingness-to-pay was equal to € 5.37. When scaled up to the population, gross social benefit was estimated in about € 23 K/year. Findings suggest that the karst cave value could have a significant impact on the social welfare gains or losses, and inform the karst cave-use management debate concerning the trade-offs of developing tourism activities. The estimated values allow institutional decision makers to identify the volume of financial resources to be put into play for interventions aimed at protection and conservation of this environmental asset.

Efficiency of financial indicators of the Romanian state budget, an objective of economic security during the epidemiological crisis

The financial structure of the state budget is a particularly important objective at the national level, aimed at ensuring economic security by providing resources to meet general objectives of national interest. During the - epidemiological crisis, due to changes in expenditure and revenue structures, the state budget was subject to financial pressures, accumulating deficits five times higher than in the period that followed the previous crisis of 2009-2012 and three times higher than at the beginning of the epidemiological crisis. The present scientific approach observes the main causes of vulnerability and identifies the economic and financial directions predicted based on the results of the last 10 years, taking into account the fact that economic security is a major objective that must be permanently monitored and adjusted through sustainable financial policies by institutional decision makers. This study uses prescriptive analytics methods, modelling data or financial results expressed in the national budgets from 2013 to 2021 in order to quantify the vulnerabilities that led to a large budget deficit (sau “an increased budget deficit”). The results may prove to be useful to stakeholders, institutional decision makers or for the medium-term adjustment of financial policies.

Quality assurance and new public management: transformations in organizational structures, functions and roles in Argentine universities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study how quality assurance (QA) has impacted Argentina’s higher education system, how QA tasks are reflected on the organizational structure of institutions, which kind of professional profiles the new QA staff assume and to what extent university life is reconfigured from these changes.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw on data from three work fields: collection and analysis of institutional data; survey applied to a stratified sample of staff who perform QA functions; and in-depth interviews with institutional QA professionals. Results show that universities have created specific areas and developed new functions and roles in QA.FindingsThe authors have observed a growing presence of dedicated personnel trained in developing these functions, positioned further down a path that had formerly distanced academics from administrative and institutional decision-makers. Unlike European universities, no evident tension was found between traditional sectors and the new professionals.Research limitations/implicationsThe limited number of responses of the quantitative data collection technique (survey) only allowed for a general and descriptive analysis. This limitation is compensated with two other methodological processes (documental analysis and in-depth interviews), that allowed to incorporate “type of university” as a variable analyse the data obtained.Practical implicationsResults can be useful for public policy to move toward new forms of monitoring internal institutional QA systems.Originality/valueThe research that supports this article aims at constructing our own categories to understand the same object that has been studied in developed countries, but in the Argentine-specific context.

The responsibility to care: lessons learned from emergency department workers' perspectives during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

BackgroundThis study’s objective was to examine emergency department (ED) workers’ perspectives during the Canadian COVID-19 first wave.MethodsThis qualitative study included workers from nine Canadian EDs who participated in 3 monthly video focus groups between April and July 2020 to explore (1) personal/professional experiences, (2) patient care and ED work, (3) relationships with teams, institutions and governing bodies. Framework analysis informed data collection and analysis.ResultsThirty-six focus groups and 15 interviews were conducted with 53 participants (including 24 physicians, 16 nurses). Median age was 37.5 years, 51% were female, 79% had more than 5 years’ experience. Three main themes emerged. (1) Early in this pandemic, participants felt a responsibility to provide care to patients and solidarity toward their ED colleagues and team, while balancing many risks with their personal protection. (2) ED teams wanted to be engaged in decision-making, based on the best available scientific knowledge. Institutional decisions and clinical guidelines needed to be adapted to the specificity of each ED environment. (3) Working during the pandemic created new sources of moral distress and fatigue, including difficult clinical practices, distance with patients and families, frequent changes in information and added sources of fatigue. Although participants quickly adapted to a “new normal”, they were concerned about long-term burnout. Participants who experienced high numbers of patient deaths felt especially unprepared.InterpretationED workers believe they have a responsibility to provide care through a pandemic. Trust in leadership is supported by managers who are present and responsive, transparent in their communication, and involve ED staff in the development and practice of policies and procedures. Such practices will help protect from burnout and ensure the workforce’s long-term sustainability.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43678-022-00306-z.

Job commitment, total quality management, information communication technology adoption, toxic leadership and job demands: a conceptual framework for student retention

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the direct effect of job commitment (JCT) on student retention (REN), exploring the mediating roles of total quality management (TQM) and information communication technology adoption (ADT), and moderating roles of toxic leadership (TLE) and job demands (JDD).Design/methodology/approachThe paper develops a conceptual framework along with postulations by integrating both empirical and theoretical literature in the fields of employee well-being, strategic management, information communication technology, leadership, as well as work and occupational psychology.FindingsThis paper proposes that JCT will be positively related to REN, and this positive relationship will be mediated by TQM and ADT. Additionally, TLE and JDD will moderate the direct positive effect of JCT on REN.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper provides implications for both researchers and practitioners in the areas of strategic decision-making in educational institutions and behaviour management for enhancing REN by applying JCT, TQM and ADT as strategic tools, while keeping TLE and JDD under control. It also offers implications for upcoming researchers to empirically test this conceptual framework in different educational settings.Practical implicationsBy boosting employees JCT, educational institutions stand the chance of improving REN via TQM and ADT. Additionally, JCT can foster REN under a working environment where TLE and JDD are kept low.Originality/valueThe paper offers unique insights into how TQM and ADT connect JCT to REN, and how JCT relates to REN under varied levels of TLE and JDD. It also highlights the theoretical contributions of the resource-based theory of a firm, affective events theory and activation theory.

ЭКОНОМИКА ПРИРОДО- И ЗЕМЛЕПОЛЬЗОВАНИЯ В КОНТЕКСТЕ КАРБОНОВОЙ ПОВЕСТКИ

This research focuses on the creation of an analytical toolkit as part of monitoring formation to answer the Carboniferous challenge and achieve a deeper understanding of fundamental contradictions in the structure of socio-natural relations. This monitoring is necessary to calculate the carbon balance and to formulate timely legitimate financial and institutional decisions. The Dixit-Stiglitz monopolistic competition model, using an area-specific social discount rate, is used to account for financial performance and utility in an equilibrium high nature-intensive industry.

Changes made to the teaching of linear algebra and calculus courses in the UK in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, university mathematics departments in the UK adapted their teaching for 2020-21, with some courses being delivered digitally and others through a mixture of on-campus and digital delivery. A survey of linear algebra and calculus lecturers was carried out in the spring of 2021 to investigate what changes were made to courses, as well as lecturers’ perceptions of institutional decision making and support. This survey found that a majority of the 41 participants were satisfied that the choice of delivery mode was correct, although views about the importance of offering on-campus classes were mixed. There was a significant increase in the use of video clips made by the lecturer, video-conferencing software, discussion forums, electronic submission of written work and on-screen marking tools. Most lecturers reported a reduction in the amount of time that students were expected to be taking part in live teaching activities and an increase in the amount of time they were expected to be working on asynchronous activities. While some were keen to return to their previous practice, others were enthusiastic about retaining features introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.