Institutional Rationality Research Articles

A study on the difference in noise reduction between rear and side microphone on CPX measurement method through sound absorption frequency analysis

The road noise evaluation method in Korea is based on the 'noise vibration process test standard' by the Ministry of Environment. In this evaluation method, the noise felt at the sound-receiving point is measured as LAeq. Recently, in order to clarify the noise measurement standards for low-noise pavements, an international standard (ISO11819-2, CPX method) was first introduced in the Porous Pavement Guidelines of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. According to ISO, CPX measurement method adopts side microphones as mandatory, and the rear microphone as optional. Due to the difference in location noise level is different, causing confusion in the road noise evaluation method. Researchers have published several studies in the past that the rear microphone is highly correlated with the equivalent noise level method based on the Korean standard. As a follow-up study to the above results, this study examines the characteristics and causes of the frequency spectrum of the rear and side microphones in the case of dense asphalt pavement and porous asphalt pavement and derives the results through frequency analysis of the sound absorption coefficient test to determine and to contribute improving reliability and institutional rationalization of the CPX measurement method.

Rendering development investible: The anti-politics machine and the financialisation of development

We critically engage with the so-called ‘Financialisation of Development’ and argue that such is neither automatic nor inexorable. We review and extend a body of recent research that underscores the extensive ‘work’ required by ‘big D’ Development actors to render target contexts legible, attractive, and amenable to private finance and investment. We introduce the framework of ‘rendering (Development) investible’ to help us unpack the attendant governmental rationality of Development institutions and professionals in the current financialised conjuncture. We reveal the drivers and primary characteristics of this rationality and we discuss its significant, yet unintended, consequences for Development thought and practice.

A Shifting Capital of Religious Education in the Digitalization Era

This study shows how the shifting capital of education aligns with the economic spirit in the digitalization era. The ideology of education, which supports the transformation of human resources to a better and fair world, has been shifted to the economic path due to economic and cultural triggers. The economic element shapes educational institutions' alignment in the labor market. The latter is to make the shifting capital of education move faster towards the economic demand due to the entrance of modernization culture in the form of digitalization technology. Furthermore, the development of religious education also gets the impact of digitalization era, but it still humanizes the humanity aspect as the novelty of this research. The sociological method is to be conducted to analyze and evaluate beyond the shifting capital of education. Critical thinking in the sociological method through Weberian rationality and bureaucracy is used to probe some possible answers to see the shifting capital of education. The result of this research is that the shifting capital of education toward economic and educational capitalism still upholds the humanizing humanity to work in the workforce field. The conclusion reaches that the shifting capital of education emphasizes the access of human resources to engage in the market during the digitalization era through the rationality of educational institutions.

Facts in the machine: Systems of record and the performance of sociotechnical truth

AbstractInformation systems serve as the “source of truth” for much of social reality, from credit scores to eligibility for boarding an airplane to the current time. In contexts of practical consensus, the system makes it so. I label this phenomenon system‐dependent truth. This paper advances a theory of performative truthmaking, wherein the agencies of giving as and taking as produce facts and truth as relations. I introduce the term systems of record to denote information systems that contain facts rather than propositions. I develop a suitable performative approach to the phenomenon of system‐dependent truth by synthesizing John Searle's social ontology, an account of truth, facts, and social reality, with Karen Barad's agential realism, an onto‐epistemology of human and nonhuman agency. Using several specific examples drawn from travel and migration contexts, including the US government's No Fly List, I show that system‐dependent truth arises when an agent takes information from a system as fact during the performance of sociotechnical truth. I argue that the agencies of truthmaking and factmaking are a distinct form of power, that the coordination of these agencies constitutes institutional rationalities of potentially global scale, and that systems of record are therefore critical sites for justice‐oriented information studies.

Global eco‐innovation and its local impact in emerging economies: Boundary conditions of environmental regulations and pollution intensity

AbstractThis paper examines the eco‐innovation effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) by its economic agents, multinational enterprises (MNEs), in the context of emerging economies. It particularly focuses on environmental regulations and industrial pollution intensity as the key moderating mechanisms. We develop hypotheses by combining economic rationality of natural‐resource‐based view and institutional rationality of institution‐based view. Our theoretical discussions highlight the importance of the intersection between the two theories in explaining the eco‐innovation effects of foreign ownership and FDI spillovers, and in particular in allowing a nuanced consideration around the under‐explored boundary conditions of FDI effects in the eco‐innovation domain. Using the propensity score matching method to match domestically owned enterprises (DOEs) with foreign MNE‐invested enterprises (FIEs) in China during the period of 2001–2013, we find clear evidence that FIEs outperform their domestic counterparts of similar characteristics in conducting eco‐innovation. This superior performance is particularly pronounced in cities with higher levels of environmental regulation and industries with higher levels of pollution. Furthermore, we assess the local impact of MNEs on eco‐innovation of DOEs and find evidence that the presence of FDI, in particular, that within cities, leads to increased eco‐innovation in DOEs. FIEs' eco‐innovation spillover effects within a city are conditional on environmental regulation and pollution intensity. Thus, in China, MNEs are found to act as agents of change who not only conduct eco‐innovation in the host country but also stimulate the eco‐innovation of DOEs.

Enabling Carbon Market Regulation under the Coupling of Institutional Rationality and Economic Rationality

Carbon emissions trading is an important market-based instrument to address climate change and achieve carbon neutrality, which is different from general commodity trading and requires effective government regulation and empowerment. This paper analyzes the differences between the primary and secondary markets of carbon emissions trading from the perspective of coupling institutional and economic rationality, and points out that in the current carbon emissions regulation, the regulatory intervention is still insufficient in terms of scientificity, compulsion and flexibility, and systematic empowerment is needed. We should start from three perspectives: promoting the implementation of the Regulation on Carbon Emission Trading, clarifying the regulatory boundary between the horizontal authorities and the vertical central and local agencies in the carbon market, and paying attention to the synergy of economic incentive-based carbon emission regulation tools, and gradually constructing a regulation model compatible with carbon tax and carbon emission trading.

Remain or return? An empirical study of influencing factors on the return of Chinese international students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 is now a global public health crisis with unprecedented political, economic, and social consequences affecting nations across the world. It also has a profound impact on the mobility of international students. When the COVID-19 was under control in China, and it was spreading dramatically in the United Kingdom, Chinese international students studying in the United Kingdom have been caught in a double bind over whether to return home or not. This study aims to explore the factors that influenced Chinese international students' choices of return during the COVID-19 pandemic when the COVID-19 was under control in China, while it was spreading dramatically in the United Kingdom. Taking Chinese international students studying in the United Kingdom as an empirical case, this study used qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore the factors that influenced their choices of return. Based on the Rational Choice Theory and qualitative analysis of text data, this paper constructed the influencing factors model of returning to China. On this basis, we developed a questionnaire and collected data from 1,333 students in late April and early May 2020. Binary Logistic Regression with 95% CI for odds ratio (OR) was used to identify significant factors. The reserve of epidemic prevention supplies (OR = 0.712), transportation expenses (OR = 0.618), and quarantine expenses (OR = 0.702) negatively affected the return choice of overseas students. The supply of daily necessities (OR = 1.495), the anti-epidemic policy of the United Kingdom (OR = 1.684), and the demand for job hunting after graduation (OR = 1.661) had positive effects. The institutional rationality had the biggest promoting effect, replaced development rationality, and became the most important factor for overseas students to return to China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic rationality, which has a significant negative effect, is the biggest obstacle to returning home. These conclusions have policy implications for governments' response to the COVID-19 epidemic and improvement of the quality of services for overseas students.

Rationalities that underpin employability provision in higher education across eight countries

AbstractThis article explores the rationalities advanced by 18 higher education institutions, located across eight countries, for developing and delivering employability provision. The article uses Sultana’s Habermasian-derived framework to categorise rationalities as either technocratic, humanistic or emancipatory. Based on a series of semi-structured dialogic interviews, the article explores how key strategic and operational personnel within higher education institutions articulate their rationality for engaging with employability. It finds that the rationalities advanced to support employability within different institutions vary through a conversation between institutional culture and priorities and the demands of different stakeholders who the institution seeks to engage. The technocratic and humanistic rationalities dominate, with the emancipatory rationality weakly represented in the data. However, in many cases, the different rationalities are woven together, often for tactical reasons, to create bespoke institutional rationalities.

A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS ON THE GLOBAL ACTORS’ ADAPTIVE CHANGE TENDENCIES TOWARDS THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

This study is devoted to carrying out a structural analysis on the global actors’ adaptive change tendencies towards the circular economy (CE) as a response to the climate crisis. By using the comparative case study method, the study focused on the relationship between China’s, Japan’s, the EU’s and the USA’s main structural patterns and their CE policies. In parallel with their existing institutional structure, China follows a top-down piecemeal social engineering approach, Japan a collaborative approach, the EU a functionalist approach, and the USA a market-centred approach. All these approaches target adaptive changes, and the institutional rationality of these actors could be given as the main reason behind this tendency. The institutional rationality has instrumental and historical components, and both favour an adaptive change over a transformative change. As a result, it could be argued that the structure matters in the global actors’ response to the worsening climate crisis, and a gradual paradigm shift towards the CE seems the only feasible option. However, the structural inclination to strengthen the functionality of the existing linear system via adaptive changes might impede the success of it; thus, the piecemeal adaptive changes should be progressively coordinated towards the targeted circular system.

How to achieve an institutional change towards circular economy? A comparative case study on the EU and China

ABSTRACT This study analyses the EU’s and China’s institutional change attempts towards the Circular Economy (CE) from an institutionalist perspective. The actors’ purpose seeking/instrumental and path-dependent institutional rationality highly affected their institutional change attempts. The increasing instability/inefficiency originating from the dialectical tension between economy and the environment in the linear economic system triggered the actors’ instrumental rationality to make an institutional change towards the CE. The instrumental rationality of the actors also favoured an incremental change. The EU’s functional and China’s piecemeal social engineering approaches emerged as a result of their different institutional structures. These findings suggest that the institutional rationality of global actors encourages them to initiate incremental (but not abrupt/radical) institutional changes. Therefore, global actors’ abrupt/brand-new responses to the worsening global environmental crisis are less possible. These findings also suggest that a heterogeneity-oriented institutionalist perspective might be useful in developing a better understanding of macro-level/global developments.

Soziale Kommunikation als Kontrolle und Imagination

For about a decade, the “Initiative der Verschickungskinder” has been drawing attention to the predominantly negative experiences made by children that were sentto recreation resorts in the Federal Republic of Germany. Between 1950 and 1990, an estimated 10 million children and adolescents between the ages of 2 and 14 were sent to these institutions for 6 weeks for recreational purposes and cared for there. The theoretical framework of the article is formed by the concepts of institutional rationality and social communication. It is assumed that institutions follow certain criteria of rationality and guiding ideas, while it is up to social communication to enforcethese criteria in practice. The article explores the questions of how former “Verschickungskinder” describe their stay, what image of the institutional structure is visible in their experiences and how big the discrepancy is between the guiding ideas of the sending-away-system and the reality experienced by the children. The “Initiative der Verschickungskinder” mainly focuses on the social control imposed by these institutions. However, their criticism resonates with the idea and expectation that the institutional purpose must not be exhausted in social control. Rather, institutions of child and youth welfare are supposed to stand for care, development and organizational clarity. Social communication is therefore understood both as social control and as an expression of social fantasy and creative imagination. In every critique, then, there is the design of a better order.Keywords: Sent-Away-Children; Social Communication and Social Criticism, Rationality Criteria and Total Institutions, Coming to Terms with the Past

Modeling the Development of Local Health-Enhancing Physical Activity Policies from Empirical Data and Policy Science Theories.

Physical inactivity is considered a pandemic, requiring strong policy responses to address this major health issue. However, research on the development of Health-Enhancing Physical Activity policies (HEPA) remains scarce, particularly at the local level. There is a need to produce evidence to better understand the process to develop local HEPA policies. This study aims to model the development of HEPA policy promotion in French municipalities from empirical data and policy science theories. This research was undertaken in three steps: (1) assess the level of development of HEPA policies from 10 French municipalities using a local HEPA analysis tool, (2) provide a brief overview of core political science theories applied in health promotion, and (3) from these empirical and theoretical perspectives, model a conceptual framework to better understand the development of HEPA policy promotion in French municipalities. Based on empirical data and the Multiple Streams, policy cycles and Institutional Rational Choice theories, a conceptual framework of the development of municipal HEPA policy promotion was modeled. This conceptual framework is comprised of five stages describing the development of municipal HEPA policies. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the development of municipal HEPA policies.

Rasionalitas Lembaga Keuangan Mikro Syariah di Masa Pandemi Covid-19

The purpose of this study is to analyze the rationality of Islamic microfinance institutions in achieving profitability and poverty alleviation missions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The object of this research is the Islamic People's Financing Bank (BPRS) in Banten, DKI Jakarta and West Java Provinces registered with the Financial Services Authority (OJK). The analytical method used is quantitative analysis, with the help of Eviews-9 Software. The results of BOPO, NPF, KAP and PPAP tests on FDR, BOPO, and NPF variables do not affect FDR, so it can be said that the level of BOPO and NPF. In contrast, KAP and PPAP variables have a negative and significant effect on FDR. the results of testing the BOPO, NPF, KAP and PPAP variables on ROA can be concluded that BOPO and NPF variables have a negative effect on ROA. The KAP variable has a positive effect on ROA, while the PPAP variable does not affect ROA.

Semiótica, poder e intolerância: populismo, direitos humanos e a crise do Estado Democrático de Direito

Este artigo trata dos riscos da derrisão dos valores centrais para o Estado Democrático de Direito, a partir da ascensão dos discursos políticos autoritários, dos discursos de ódio e da multiplicação da intolerância no mundo contemporâneo. Por isso, considera a importância da contribuição analítico-discursiva da Semiótica Geral, da Semiótica do Poder e da Semiótica do Direito. A análise dos discursos permite desvelar a forma pela qual a propaganda populista manipula os indivíduos a partir do apelo aos regimes de estesia e manipulação. Assim, a racionalidade das instituições democráticas, o tempo e o diálogo como pré-condições para o exercício democrático, a garantia da diversidade e do pluralismo vão se erodindo, enquanto crescem as concessões ao poder e as manifestações de intolerâncias. Daí a importância que a Semiótica tem para a promoção do regime de participação, essencial para o Estado Democrático de Direito, uma vez sensivelmente afetado pela crise contemporânea.

Universidad y protesta social: una reflexión desde Chile

Desde octubre de 2019, Chile experimentó una intensa protesta social, a la cual luego se sobreponen los efectos de la pandemia del Covid-19. Este ensayo indaga en las causas de la protesta y el rol que desempeñan las universidades en tiempos de crisis. Para esto recurre a conceptos de la sociología de la educación superior y utiliza datos secundarios provenientes del debate público, la prensa, informes de agencias gubernamentales y observaciones recogidas por estudios de casos. Concluye que la protesta fue provocada por una brecha entre expectativas de participación en los beneficios de la modernización capitalista, movilizadas por la masificación de la educación superior, y las satisfacciones generadas por el Estado y la sociedad. En este cuadro, las universidades se han debatido entre abstraerse de las luchas sociales, plegarse a ellas o contribuir a superar la crisis desde su propia racionalidad institucional. 

High-Speed Rail and Industrial Upgrading in China：Facts and Mechanisms

China’s economy has shifted from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage, which is the most distinctive feature of China’s economy in the new era. Industrial upgrading is the core and key to China’s future high-quality economic development. The overall change of the international pattern leads to China’s need to find more internal driving forces for economic development. In this context, the biggest innovation of this paper is to explore a new way to promote industrial upgrading relying on the integration of domestic market from the perspective of domestic market integration and resource allocation. This paper regards the construction of the high-speed rail as a quasi-natural experiment. Based on the panel data of 2004-2016, a multi-period DID model is constructed to study the impact and mechanism of high-speed rail on industrial upgrading.The study finds that, on the whole, the construction of the high-speed rail can significantly improve the rationalization and advanced level of a city’s industrial structure, and the estimation results are still robust after considering the assumptions and a series of factors that may interfere with the estimation results. The analysis of the impact mechanism finds that the construction of high-speed rail significantly promotes the flow of labor between cities, and promotes the rationalization and upgrading of industrial institutions by triggering economies of scale, technological innovation and capital labor allocation. Among them, economies of scale have the greatest contribution to the rationalization and upgrading of industrial structure, followed by technological innovation and capital labor allocation. Therefore, it is necessary to create conditions to exert technological innovation and spillover effects and improve capital labor allocation. Further mechanism decomposition shows that high-speed rail construction has a more significant effect on the overall economic development level and the higher-level industrial structure of the city, and the higher-level changes in the industrial structure are mainly due to the optimal re-allocation of resources between cities; cities with relatively poor development base benefit from the optimization and re-allocation of resources within the city after the construction of the high-speed rail, and the level of rationalization of the industrial structure has been significantly improved.The findings of this paper on the facts and mechanisms for the promotion of the high-speed rail to promote industrial upgrading show that high-speed rail construction will promote the deepening of industrial division of labor between regions, improve resource allocation efficiency, and urge new developments in production industry and economic development, but it does not mean that all cities can achieve the desired effect after the construction of high-speed rail. The construction of high-speed rail in China is accompanied by the general trend of industrial transfer and upgrading in developed regions. Compared with the existing poorly-developed regions, the high-speed rail has optimized the allocation of factors in cities with relatively good economic development. The large differences in the capital, technology and infrastructure of the region under the big economy determine the particularity of China’s industrial upgrading. Based on the research findings, this paper proposes the following policy recommendations: In the historical process of large-scale construction of China’s high-speed rail, accelerated industrial restructuring, and transformation of economic development mode, it is necessary to coordinate the synchronization of high-speed rail construction and industrial transformation and upgrading, and continue to improve the efficiency of resource allocation by developing and optimizing high-speed rail networks to reform and innovate. Deeply excavating and continuously releasing the resource reconfiguration effect of high-speed rail construction will provide support for industrial upgrading and high-quality development under the new normal economic development.

Understanding how hybrid organisations tackle social challenges

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how hybrid organisations combine institutional logics to tackle complex social needs.Design/methodology/approachA multiple case study design was followed, and cases were selected using a two-staged sampling process. Using qualitative analysis, the mechanisms through which logics are selected, prioritised and get integrated in the strategies and practices of these organisations are illustrated.FindingsThe study contributes to the literature on hybrid organisations and their ability to address social problems in two important ways. First, the paper reveals through the concept of institutional rationality why market-based organisations emerge to address complex social needs in a complex institutional context. Second, the study demonstrates that there is heterogeneity in how logics are blended externally in their strategies and in how logics are integrated internally within the organisation.Research limitations/implicationsAll the cases are selected from India; hence the possibility that the findings are valid only for countries with similar institutional and socio-economic contexts cannot be negated.Practical implicationsThe policy implication is that if business organisations should embrace social goals substantively, a regulation in the form of CSR is not enough. Instead, there should be institutional provisions to promote such hybrid organisational forms where alternative logics such as community, profession, etc., are part of the core logics of the organisation.Originality/valueThis study connects the strategic choices of organisations with their institutional logics’ configuration in the Indian context.

Is the Whole Greater than the Sum of its Parts? Strengthening Caribbean Regional Integration

Deeper economic integration within the Caribbean has been a regional policy priority since the establishment of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the decision to create the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). Implementation of integration initiatives has, however, been slow, despite the stated commitment of political leaders. The “implementation deficit” has led to skepticism about completing the CSME and controversy regarding its benefits. This paper analyzes how Caribbean integration has evolved, discusses the obstacles to progress, and explores the potential benefits from greater integration. It argues that further economic integration through liberalization of trade and labor mobility can generate significant macroeconomic benefits, but slow progress in completing the institutional arrangements has hindered implementation of the essential components of the CSME and progress in economic integration. Advancing institutional integration through harmonization and rationalization of key institutions and processes can reduce the fixed costs of institutions, providing the needed scale and boost to regional integration. Greater cooperation in several functional policy areas where the region is facing common challenges can also provide low-hanging fruit, creating momentum toward full integration as the Community continues to address the obstacles to full economic integration.

Is the Whole Greater than the Sum of its Parts? Strengthening Caribbean Regional Integration

Deeper economic integration within the Caribbean has been a regional policy priority since the establishment of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the decision to create the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). Implementation of integration initiatives has, however, been slow, despite the stated commitment of political leaders. The “implementation deficit” has led to skepticism about completing the CSME and controversy regarding its benefits. This paper analyzes how Caribbean integration has evolved, discusses the obstacles to progress, and explores the potential benefits from greater integration. It argues that further economic integration through liberalization of trade and labor mobility can generate significant macroeconomic benefits, but slow progress in completing the institutional arrangements has hindered implementation of the essential components of the CSME and progress in economic integration. Advancing institutional integration through harmonization and rationalization of key institutions and processes can reduce the fixed costs of institutions, providing the needed scale and boost to regional integration. Greater cooperation in several functional policy areas where the region is facing common challenges can also provide low-hanging fruit, creating momentum toward full integration as the Community continues to address the obstacles to full economic integration.

Enhancing Performance of Participatory Water Institutions in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains: What Can We Learn from New Institutional Economics and Governance Theories?

The paper examines the performance of participatory water institutions in India’s Eastern Indo-Gangetic plains region using new institutional economics and management governance fundamentals. Water institutions are of great importance for water resource management in India’s Eastern Indo-Gangetic plains since the region has relatively abundant water but lags behind significantly in economic development and growth with a high incidence of poverty. Engineering solutions to water management have been implemented but have not given good results principally because of weak institutional development and design in the region. Effective and efficient participatory water institutions are urgently needed. The research uses concepts from new institutional economics and management governance theory to build a conceptual framework for explaining the performance of participatory water institutions. The framework identifies eight institutional rationalities: technical, environmental, economic, social, political organizational, financial and government; as well as five institutional features: clear objectives, good interaction, adaptiveness, right scale, and compliance, as linked to performance. Based on this, a survey instrument was developed and a survey conducted obtaining responses from more than 500 households across 51 such institutions in the eastern Indo-Gangetic plains states of Assam and Bihar. The data were analyzed through statistical and econometric techniques including Ordered-Probit. The results support the relevance of the concepts in explaining performance of water institutions, and a number of drivers of performance were identified through Ordered-Probit, particularly, four rationalities—technical, economic, social and organizational, (with coefficients (0.4622, 0.3803, 0.4303, 0.2457) and three institutional features—good interaction, adaptiveness and appropriate scale (with coefficients 0.4242, 0.2703, 0.6756) (based on a 5-point Likert scale), as playing a positive and significant role in enhancing performance. The results provide a number of useful insights which can help guide interventions and policy towards better design and development of the water institutions, and help improve water resource management and livelihoods in the region.