Perception Of Transparency Research Articles

Policing the police: predicting citizen support for police accountability

ABSTRACT Recently, there has been a push for policies that seek to increase police accountability. Two of these policies, requiring independent investigations and prosecutions of police shootings, have been suggested by academics and activists. Using a sample of undergraduate college students from a large Midwestern university, this study examines the extent and correlates of support for these two policies. The results of the study indicate that both policies enjoy overwhelming support. Respondents who perceive police officers to be like soldiers in a war on crime are less likely to support both policies while those who believe police misconduct to be more common are more likely to support them. Symbolic racism was predictive of a lack of support for independent investigations. Based on the findings, we recommend that more jurisdictions adopt these policies, so that they may improve perceptions of transparency and legitimacy compared to international contexts now relying on citizen reviews.

The Prevention Behaviors and Impact Mechanisms Among Different Chinese Social Classes at the Early Stage of COVID-19 Pandemic.

BackgroundWhether the pandemic can be effectively prevented and controlled depends on the entire population’s adherence to recommendations and preventive behaviors. The present study aimed to investigate the social class differences and internal mechanisms of prevention behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsWe conducted an online cross-sectional survey among the general Chinese population at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey website’s subscribers could access the questionnaire through the Tencent online platform, and a total of 1948 participants voluntarily completed it. Most of the participants were female (n = 1257, 64.528%), between the ages of 18–29 (n = 999, 51.284%), university graduates (n = 1015, 52.105%), and had an annual family income below 100,000 yuan (n = 1119, 57.444%). The differences in COVID-19 prevention behaviors among different social classes, the mediating role of infectious threat perception and the moderating role of perceived epidemic transparency were examined.Results1) There were significant differences in prevention behaviors among different social classes. 2) The level of infectious threat perception played a mediating role in the relationship between social class and prevention behavior. When the individuals were from a lower social class, the level of threat perception and the level of COVID-19 prevention behaviors were also lower. 3) Perceived epidemic transparency played a moderating role in the relationship between social class and COVID-19 prevention behavior. It also played a moderating role in the relationship between social class and infectious threat perception.ConclusionIn the implementation of epidemic prevention and control measures, different social classes should be targeted and guided differently. In particular, lower-class individuals can be guided by improving the perceptions of epidemic transparency and infectious threat.

Conjoint measurement of perceived transparency and perceived contrast in variegated checkerboards.

One fundamental question in vision research is how the retinal input is segmented into perceptually relevant variables. A striking example of this segmentation process is transparency perception, in which luminance information in one location contributes to two perceptual variables: the properties of the transparent medium itself and of what is being seen in the background. Previous work by Robilotto et al. (2002, 2004) suggested that perceived transparency is closely related to perceived contrast, but how these two relate to retinal luminance has not been established. Here we studied the relationship between perceived transparency, perceived contrast, and image luminance using maximum likelihood conjoint measurement (MLCM). Stimuli were rendered images of variegated checkerboards that were composed of multiple reflectances and partially covered by a transparent overlay. We systematically varied the transmittance and reflectance of the transparent medium and measured perceptual scales of perceived transparency. We also measured scales of perceived contrast using cut-outs of the transparency stimuli that did not contain any geometrical cues to transparency. Perceptual scales for perceived transparency and contrast followed a remarkably similar pattern across observers. We tested the empirically observed scales against predictions from various contrast metrics and found that perceived transparency and perceived contrast were equally well predicted by a metric based on the logarithm of Michelson or Whittle contrast. We conclude that judgments of perceived transparency and perceived contrast are likely to be supported by a common mechanism, which can be computationally captured as a logarithmic contrast.

An experimental study of tie transparency and individual perception in social networks

Tie transparency, which may provide more unbiased information to deepen mutual understanding, thus builds trust and prompts cooperation in social networks. Little is known, however, about social connections’ transparency. We introduce knowable degree (KD) to characterize the transparency of a social tie, defined as the number of other entities who perceive the tie. We design a two-phase experiment to collect KDs in a network of 155 students. We find that structural property and node attribute significantly predict tie transparency. Meanwhile, we also find there almost always exist a few covert ties due to non-reciprocity. Furthermore, we focus on exploring the boundary of scopes of perception and evaluating individuals’ perceptual capability. We describe the two degrees of perception phenomenon that people can generally catch the relationships between their 2-neighbours at most. We propose a generic quantitative model to recognize high-capability perceivers, who are found more sociable and enjoy exploring the social context as well.

The effects of transparency perceptions on trustworthiness perceptions and trust

ABSTRACT Transparency is recognised as vital to ensuring employee trust in managers. However, prior measures of transparency have made it difficult to discern the precise influence of transparency on trust. We posit that separate dimensions of transparency perceptions (disclosure, clarity, and accuracy) uniquely influence perceptions of trustworthiness (ability, benevolence, and integrity). We also posit that trustworthiness, as the proximal predictor of trust, mediates the transparency-trust relationship. Using a recently published measure of transparency that captures its dimensions, we find support for our predictions that transparency differentially influences trust via trustworthiness across two samples with unique referents (direct manager and top-management-team). Our results show that employees place trust in different ways depending on how much information they perceive their managers to be sharing (i.e. disclosure), what they perceive their managers to be revealing (i.e. accuracy), and how they perceive their managers to be revealing it (i.e. clarity). Thus, managers who are seen as satisfying some dimensions of transparency but not others (e.g. disclosure and accuracy, but not clarity) might not foster needed trustworthiness perceptions for employees to justify placing trust in the manager, with practical implications for managers seeking to develop trust in situations that require them to demonstrate specific trustworthiness attributes.

The Relationship between the Chief Executive Officer's (CEO) Social Capital and Dynamic Capabilities: A Meta-Analysis of its Moderators.

CEO social capital has shown a positive association with dynamic capabilities, although correlations have considerable heterogeneity among them. This meta-analysis estimates the correlation between CEO social capital and dynamic capabilities, and analyses moderator variables in explaining the heterogeneity in the results. Moderators are classified across four levels from macro to micro variables: country variables, firm environment, firm characteristics, and CEO variables. We apply a systematic search for studies in the Web of Science, Scopus, EBSCO, ProQuest, and Google Scholar databases. Additionally, we used a three-level random-effect meta-analysis on 89 correlations published between 2008 and 2021 from 9,272 CEOs. Findings indicate a positive correlation between CEO social capital and dynamic capabilities. Furthermore, we identified a moderator effect in the country and firm environment level. We found that the country of the study, the perception of transparency and legality in the country, and the environmental dynamism in the market moderate the size of the correlations. We also reject other moderators, including the individualism-collectivism national culture, firm size, the sources of social capital (business or political ties), and the dimension of the social capital (structural, relational or cognitive). This study contributes to the exploration of the sources of dynamic capabilities from the micro-foundation, identifies moderator variables that explain the heterogeneity in the results, and highlights the social nature of management activities which always evolve in a social context.

Цифрові трансформації: ризики клієнтоорієнтованих фінансів

The publication presents modern ideas concerning the world of digital financial services being imperceptibly, conveniently and effectively integrated into the daily existence of consumers on the basis of a customer-oriented approach; the mechanisms of its implementation and prospects for development in the business environment and consumer space are presented. It is concluded that in the context of the dominance of the digital financial industry, the service provider, having exclusive information about the consumer, also having a mobile and flexible system of combining professional analysts and smart dashboards, using a range of innovative financial solutions, becomes an indispensable, built-in part of the operational activity of the client, who will increasingly rely in decision-making on such integrated coordinators of his activities. The processes of loss of financial subjectivity by consumers of financial services due to delegation of financial decision-making to service providers (platforms) are highlighted. The socioinstitutional transformations that made possible a customer-oriented breakthrough in financial activities, namely the perception of transparency of life, confidentiality of information and its protection, which radically changed the idea of information asymmetry, its content and effects of influence, are substantiated. The peculiarities of localization of digital lending are determined, namely: operations in markets where traditional banking is not available owing to the underdevelopment of the country, region, banking infrastructure, remoteness of banking institutions from direct customers; transactions among segments of the population that do not have access to lending in traditional banks owing to the lack of credit history. The risks of activation of digital lending, consisting in an increase in the debt burden and monopolization, are pointed out. The tasks of the State policy in the financial sphere in connection with the implementation of the digital development strategy in Ukraine are characterized.

Impact of e-HRM systems on quality of competency assessment in Indian public sector organisations

As public sector organisations are migrating from traditional to web-based competency assessment methods globally, it becomes crucial to know about the perspective of employees towards the quality of competency assessment enhancement after implementation of e-HRM. This research aims to capture the same. The methodology used in the study includes case-based exploration of three large public sector organisations with onward journey transitioning from paper-based competency assessment to e-HRM systems-based competency assessment for enhanced quality. A study is conducted in a group of 506 employees in two different phases' viz. pre-web portal phase and post-web portal phase. The findings indicate that the web-based portal for e-HRM had no significant effect on the employee perceptions of overall quality of competency assessment programs (CAPs) but resulted in improved perceptions of transparency and directness in the sample organisations. The study makes an important contribution towards a shift in the assessment of system-based interventions for performance improvement of public sector employees in India. The paper has significant implications for similar transitions in competency assessments in developing or developed countries' public system management.

Hair transparency decoding in Asia: From stylists' perception to in vitro measurement.

The concept of hair transparency has been claimed widely in the Japan (and now it is spreading to Asian) hair color market. Despite the general use of this concept, to date, there is no clear and objective description to accurately explain what it is. In this work, we have decoded and gave clarity to the concept of hair transparency via a technical model (validated for both Japan and China markets) composed of measurable parameters of hair property using a single device. A comprehensive study composed of various tests was used, starting with a qualitative identification of key parameters via in-depth workshop discussions with over 40 Japanese stylists and a panel of 12 consumers. These identified parameters (luminosity, color visibility, and Shine) were then translated into technically measurable parameters of the hair fiber (Diffused light intensity, ratio of RGB channel intensities of Diffused light, and luster) via a single instrument-Hair SAMBA (a dual-polarized imaging system). Afterward, 10 carefully selected anchor shades were used as visual stimuli in an online pairwise comparison (PC) study with 100 Japanese stylists to generate quantitative transparency perception data of the swatches. Technical parameters of these swatches were measured by SAMBA and consolidated with the PC output, for the creation and validation of the mathematical model. After, with another PC study (N=100) in China, with seven shades from Japan study and 6 additional Chinese market shades, the applicability of the model in China market was validated. We have clarified and quantified the concept of hair transparency through a consumer centric approach and with objective data. Our findings will enable the development of optimum transparent shades which better suits consumer needs. Lastly, we would like to highlight the beauty of digitalization in the study: The digital evaluation pathways chosen allowed us to collect quantitative consumer data from two countries for the creation of a robust model under the impact of COVID-19 and would definitely be the way to go for our future consumer evaluation studies.

Academics’ and Institutional Leaders’ Perception of Transparency: Lesson from Ethiopian Public Universities

This study explored academics’ and institutional leaders’ perception of transparency in decision-making in Ethiopian higher education institutions. Three universities were selected from the 31 public universities using a stratified sampling technique. The study employed a mixed-method exploratory research design. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (ANOVA and Tukey’s post-hoc test) were used to analyse the quantitative data while thematic analysis was used to identify emerging themes and meanings within qualitative data. The findings of this study showed that the Ethiopian public universities have hierarchal (top-down) governance lacking in transparency in decision-making. Academics and institutional leaders called for greater transparency in the flow of information and decision-making for the academic community to accomplish their academic core activities effectively. Transparency is a key element of the university governance, and we argue that a lack of transparency at the university upper levels of the university will discourage transparency at lower levels. We recommend shift to more shared governance or consultative governance for mutual accommodation if the Ethiopian universities are to become transparent and optimise their contribution to national development.

Transparency in higher education: An investigation of University students' perceptions in Italy and Russia

The primary purpose of this research is to investigate students' perceptions of the presence of transparency in their university teaching/learning processes.Effects of transparency in achievement, motivation, and anxiety were explored from the perspective of teachers', one's own, and peers' behaviour. The secondary objective of the study was to create a valid tool for investigating "transparency" perception in university educational practices, based on the theoretical assumption that transparency reduces performance anxiety, stimulates study motivation, and represents a universal construct across universities, countries, cultures and courses of study. A sample of 439 undergraduates from leading research universities in Russia and Italy completed self-report scales and reported demographic data. The scales showed internal consistency and structural invariance in both countries. Research results confirmed the hypothesis from which the investigation originated. Based on the findings, essential tips for future investigations of transparency perception at universities have been developed.

Fostering Trust, Transparency, Satisfaction and Participation Amidst COVID-19 corruption: Does the Civil Society Matter? – Evidence from Ghana

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has erupted corruption challenges across polities including Ghana. This situation has spurred anecdotal narratives underscoring a decline in citizens’ trust, transparency perceptions, satisfaction and participation in pandemic activism, and thus catapulted civil society discourses into prominence. Therefore, we investigate civil society imperativeness to trust, transparency, satisfaction and participation, whilst mitigating corruption. Results (n = 375) of structural equation modeling revealed the negative impact of corruption on trust, satisfaction and transparency. Whereas, trust and transparency were revealed to be significant to satisfaction and participation, the civil society’s efficacy was confirmed. Based on these, research and policy implications are proffered.

Why or Why Not? The Effect of Justification Styles on Chatbot Recommendations

Chatbots or conversational recommenders have gained increasing popularity as a new paradigm for Recommender Systems (RS). Prior work on RS showed that providing explanations can improve transparency and trust, which are critical for the adoption of RS. Their interactive and engaging nature makes conversational recommenders a natural platform to not only provide recommendations but also justify the recommendations through explanations. The recent surge of interest inexplainable AI enables diverse styles of justification, and also invites questions on how styles of justification impact user perception. In this article, we explore the effect of “why” justifications and “why not” justifications on users’ perceptions of explainability and trust. We developed and tested a movie-recommendation chatbot that provides users with different types of justifications for the recommended items. Our online experiment ( n = 310) demonstrates that the “why” justifications (but not the “why not” justifications) have a significant impact on users’ perception of the conversational recommender. Particularly, “why” justifications increase users’ perception of system transparency, which impacts perceived control, trusting beliefs and in turn influences users’ willingness to depend on the system’s advice. Finally, we discuss the design implications for decision-assisting chatbots.

Students' Perception of the Assessment Transparency Based Google Sheet

The study aims to know the students' perceptions of their Google sheet transparency assessment. The subject study was 45 students of the class 4A semester four elementary school teacher education course at the University Muhammadiyah Magelang. This research is a descriptive qualitative study, with data collection techniques is questionnaires and interviews. The Analysis techniques using Miles and Huberman's models. The results showed that students and lecture agreed on the transparency assessment of the based google sheet by complying with the nine principles of assessment: valid, objective, fair, integrated, open, comprehensive and continuous, systematic, based on criteria, and accountable. It has an impact on improving student learning outcomes. The implication of this research is to develop assessment transparency for all lecturers at University Muhammadiyah Magelang.

Citizens’ Perception of Corruption and Transparency as Determinants of Public Trust in Local Government in Ukraine

Trust in government plays an essential role in ensuring the legitimacy and resilience of a country’s political system. The aim of this study is to examine the perceived levels of corruption and transparency as factors influencing trust in local government, as well as the relationships between them, by obtaining a statistical generalisation of the respondents’ (n=403) attitudes and opinions towards the local government of one of the recently formed amalgamated territorial communities in Ukraine. The regression-based bootstrapping approach was applied to test the conceptual model and hypotheses using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 25.0 software. The results of the study demonstrate the complex nature of the relationship between the variables and highlight some important issues regarding the perception of transparency, the role it plays in curbing corruption and improving public confidence in local government, which provides a basis for further systematic research on this topic.

Perceptions of laboratory animal facility managers regarding institutional transparency.

Institutions that conduct animal research are often obliged to release some information under various legal or regulatory frameworks. However, within an institution, perspectives on sharing information with the broader public are not well documented. Inside animal facilities, managers exist at the interface between the people who conduct animal research and those charged with providing care for those animals. Their perception of transparency may influence their interpretation of the institutional culture of transparency and may also influence others who use these facilities. The objective of our study was to describe perceptions of transparency among animal research facility managers (all working within the same ethical oversight program), and how these perceptions influenced their experiences. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were used to describe perceptions and experiences of 12 facility managers relating to animal research transparency. Four themes emerged from the participant interviews: 1) communication strategies, 2) impact on participant, 3) expectations of transparency, and 4) institutional policies. Similarities and differences regarding perceptions of transparency existed among participants, with notable differences between participants working at university versus hospital campuses. These results illustrate differences in perceptions of transparency within one institutional animal care and use program. We conclude that institutions, regulators and the public should not assume a uniform interpretation of a culture of transparency among managers, and that sustained communication efforts are required to support managers and to allow them to develop shared perspectives.

TRANSPARENCY AND CORRUPTION AT THE LEVEL OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The level of corruption has consistently been a significant social and political phenomenon that affects the level of satisfaction with the current political situation and the support of the political system. Research conducted in recent years by third sector anti-corruption foundations or professional opinion research agencies suggests areas where the public perceives greater or lesser transparency. In the last decade, this significantly included the judiciary, healthcare, political parties, education and distrust grew e.g. also against the media. On the contrary, a relatively high level of trust was maintained by representatives of local governments - municipalities and cities. Given that the perception of transparency is highly emotionally based and the public can make their judgment based on “what I have heard”, the subject of the article is transparency in the local government environment. With the support of the Operational Program Effective Public Administration and the European Social Fund, a survey was conducted among the member local self-governments of the three local action groups (LAGs). From the methodological point of view, two techniques were used. The first was questionnaire survey among the inhabitants of the affected municipalities and at the same time data were requested from the municipalities within selected processes.

Unequal but Fair: Incorporating Distributive Justice in Operational Allocation Models

Fairness is a natural concern when model‐based decisions affect human beings. In personnel‐management decisions, employees’ perceptions of fairness depend both upon the decision processes as well as the resulting outcomes. Acting as a key part of decision processes, operational models often emphasize equality, or sameness, of outcomes among individuals. Fair outcomes, as a manifestation of distributive justice, involve balancing two competing aspects: equality and equity. Equity, in opposition to equality, is concerned with an individual’s outcomes being commensurate with their inputs. While both aspects of distributive justice can be an expectation of members of an organization, they present an inherent trade‐off; more of one requires less of the other. In order to balance the trade‐off between equity and equality, we propose a bi‐objective, non‐linear optimization model, which is then extended to a mixed‐integer formulation in a service‐oriented case study. Specifically, the case study model allocates physicians’ contracted clinical time across multiple emergency department locations. Deviations from physicians’ equity‐weighted preferences for where they work are minimized and a Pareto frontier of objectively fair solutions is derived. As a result, the time physicians were allocated to locations they did not prefer was substantially reduced. In addition, pre‐ and post‐implementation surveys revealed statistically significant improvements in employee reported perceptions of fairness, transparency, and overall satisfaction with the work‐time‐allocation process. The evidence supports the conclusion that decision models designed to result in unequal outcomes can still be perceived as fair by the employees they affect.

Examining the Role of Transparent Organizational Communication for Employees’ Job Engagement and Disengagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria

This study provides an understanding of how employees’ perception of organizational transparency during the long-lasting situation of the COVID-19 pandemic engendered their job engagement as well as job disengagement. Data were collected by means of an online survey among 410 employees in Austria during March 2021. Results show that employees’ perception of their organization’s approach to transparency directly influenced their job engagement and disengagement. Importantly, the relationship between transparency and job engagement was also mediated through organizational trust, and job-specific state anxiety mediated the relationship between transparency and job disengagement. The results imply the importance of transparency during times of great uncertainty and emphasize the necessity to closely consider employees’ emotional states and worries during a crisis.

A Survey on the Perception of Non-profit Organizations' Accounting Transparency and Audit Systems

[연구목적] 본 연구는 일반인을 대상으로 비영리조직에 대한 관심도와 투명성에 대한 설문조사를 실시하였다. 이러한 설문조사를 통해 회계정보를 실제 사용할 것으로 예상되는 정보사용자들의 비영리조직의 회계투명성과 회계감사에 대한 인식을 확인할 수 있었다. [연구방법] 본 연구는 비영리조직을 공동주택, 사학기관 및 공익법인으로 구분하고 해당 조직별 특성을 반영하여 설문지를 작성하였다. 작성된 설문지를 각각의 다른 일반인들을 대상으로 인터넷으로 설문조사를 실시하였다. [연구결과] 조사결과에 따르면 회계정보에 대한 관심이 보통 이상인 비율이 공동주택은 54%, 사학기관은 76% 공익법인은 82% 순으로 나타났다. 하지만 비영리조직의 회계가 투명하다고 응답한 비율은 공동주택이 15%, 사학기관이 16%, 공익법인이 28%로 매우 낮게 나타났다. 이에 따라 회계감사 강화의 필요성은 공동주택이 79%, 사학기관이 78%, 공익법인이 80%로 보고되었다. [연구의 시사점]회계와 관련된 연구에서 회계투명성 또는 제도에 대한 인식을 조사하는 설문연구가 부족한 상황이다. 이러한 상황에서 본 연구는 비영리조직의 회계투명성과 회계감사에 대한 인식을 조사한다는 점에서 의의를 가진다. 또한, 본 연구결과는 비영리조직과 관련된 제도를 보완하고 운영하는데 시사점을 제공할 것이다. 특히, 감사공영제의 필요성과 운영에 대한 중요한 자료로 활용될 것으로 기대된다.