Vienna University of Economics and Business
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Between Protection and Activation: Shifting Institutional Arrangements and ‘Ambivalent’ Labour Market Policies in Vienna
Get PDFThis chapter explores the changing paradigm that characterises the workings of labour market institutions and the shifting boundaries of social inclusion in the localised welfare system of Vienna. We argue that the decentralisation process that took place in the early 1990s has enabled Viennese regional policy makers to formulate innovative solutions to structural problems and broaden their policy outreach to a wide range of disadvantaged social groups. As a result of their regulatory autonomy, regional actors in Vienna have been able to complement national policies and develop inclusive programmes to address external pressures
Collaborative governance in Social Impact Bonds: aligning interests within divergent accountabilities?
Get PDFSocial Impact Bonds (SIBs) are a novel form of cross-sector collaborations and an alternative way of financing innovative social services. Based on an in-depth longitudinal case analysis and drawing from agency theory as well as resource dependence theory, we examine the process of interest alignment among involved partners over the lifespan of a SIB pilot project in Austria. Our study shows the multitude of problems and costs that such a challenging arrangement of multiple stakeholders brings along, thus dampening overoptimistic expectations in SIBs. We also suggest an analytical framework that improves the assessment of SIBs’ probability of success
Sharing economy and the issue of (dis)trust
Get PDFEconomy has changed; while in earlier times the possession of goods has been important to
consumers, nowadays consumers rather try to have access to them (Belk, 2014). The so-called
sharing economy enables consumers to share goods and services, such as rooms (cf. Airbnb),
mobility services (cf. Blablacar), or self-produced vegetables (cf. community gardens). The Internet
was key to the development of the sharing economy; with this achievement, the sharing economy
expanded (Puschmann and Alt, 2016), and research on the sharing economy accumulated.
Trust is a fundamental aspect that keeps the sharing economy running (Möhlmann, 2015). Trust
means that consumers make themselves vulnerable toward different actors (Rousseau et al., 1998).
There needs to be trust toward the sharing organization (e.g., Airbnb), toward consumers offering
their goods and services, toward other consumers and also toward the technology providing the
platform. Several articles (e.g., Kong et al., 2020) address the important issue of trust in the sharing
economy, but the more or less antagonist of trust, i.e., distrust, has not been addressed in research
so far. Distrust is often seen as an individual’s unwillingness to accept vulnerability to the actions
of other people based on pervasive negative perceptions and expectations of the other people’s
motives, intentions, or behaviors (Bijlsma-Frankema et al., 2015). The relevance of distrust often
resonates implicitly in the publications on trust in the sharing economy (e.g., Möhlmann, 2015),
but was not explicitly addressed in previous research. For that reason, the current Research Topic
opens up a forum, in which research not only on trust but also on distrust in the sharing economy
can gain center stage
Housing regimes and residualization of the subsidized rental sector in Europe 2005-2016
Get PDFResidualization refers to the process whereby publicly subsidized rental housing moves towards a position in which it provides only a safety net for low-income households. In this paper we quantify residualization based on the income profile of house-holds in the below market rates (BMR) rental sector. Various residualization indicators for 12 European countries from EU-SILCdata are calculated. First, we explore the effect of the size of the BMR sector and the cost of alternative tenure types on residualization. Second, we investigate if there are similar trends of residualization from 2005 to 2016. We find that decreases in the share of the BMR sector are associated with significant increases in residualization. Increases in rent differences between the BMR andmarket rate rental sector are related to larger degrees of residualization. We further observe a rising level of residualization for most countries. However, countries with allocation systems that aim at broader income groups still display the lowest degree of residualization
Role Models in the Senior Civil Service: How Tasks Frame the Identification of Senior Bureaucrats with Active and Reactive Roles
Get PDFThe influence of senior civil servants’ (SCS) tasks on their role perceptions has been widely ignored in the past research on the administrative élite. This paper presents new survey data on SCS in German federal ministries to test this relation by categorizing SCS into three task-related groups: strategists, policy specialists and administrators. Regression analyses reveal that SCS’s tasks do not influence their (strong) identification with reactive (supportive) roles but have a significant impact on their identification with active, more politically entrepreneurial roles. This entails two important findings: First, SCS’s tasks matter for their appreciation of different roles. Second, active and reactive role models are not irreconcilable (as it is often argued in the literature on bureaucratic politicization), but complementary
COVID-19 European regional tracker
Get PDFThis Tracker presents data on daily COVID-19 cases at the sub-national level for 26 European countries from January 2020 till present. Country-level data sources are identified and processed to form a homogenized panel at the NUTS 3 or NUTS 2 level, the two lowest standardized administrative units in Europe. The strengths and weaknesses of each country dataset are discussed in detail. The raw data, spatial layers, the code, and the final homogenized files are provided in an online repository for replication. The data highlights the spatial distribution of cases both within and across countries that can be utilized for a disaggregated analysis on the impacts of the pandemic. The Tracker is updated monthly to expand its coverage
Does emancipation devour its children? Beyond a stalled dialectic of emancipation
Get PDFEmancipation serves not only as a midwife for progressive agendas such as greater equality and sustainability but also as their gravedigger. This diagnosis underpins Ingolfur Blühdorn’s ‘dialectic of emancipation’, which depicts a dilemma but offers no perspective on how to deal with it. By drawing on Foucault, this article suggests conceiving of emancipation as a task moderns are confronted with even if a given emancipatory project has come to devour its children. Claiming autonomy from given social constellations is key to this task; key also is judging between legitimate and illegitimate claims to autonomy. In late modernity, the criteria for such judgement are no longer universally given. Instead of regarding the latter as entry into mere subjectivism (Blühdorn), this article presents judgement as a key political, ‘world building’-activity (Arendt), a critical social theory may join in, by not only observing the world but by also taking sides in it
"A little bit of everything?" Conceptualising performance measurement in hybrid public sector organisations through a literature review
Get PDFPurpose: Numerous of today’s public sector organisations (PSOs) can be characterised as hybrids. Hybridityis caused by different (at times conflicting) demands that stem from the institutional environment, which is likely to affect performance measurement in these organisations. This paper focuses on the relationship between hybridity and organisational performance, which has so far not been studied in detail.
Design/methodology/approach: Based on a literature review (final sample of 56 articles), the authors systematise performance dimensions alongside the pillars "economy", "efficiency", "effectiveness" and "(social)equity". The article summarises results in a framework for measuring performance in hybrid PSOs. The authors outline strategies as to how public managers can tailor frame works to the requirements and idiosyncrasies of organisations.
Findings: Since hybrid PSOs combine logics from different administrative models (Weberian bureaucracy, market-capitalism and democracy), so need their organisational performance measurement systems. Potential synergies from and frictions between the different performance dimensions related to the four pillars arediscussed.
Originality/value: This is the first literature review on performance dimensions and their application in hybrid PSOs. The distilled "hybrid performance measurement framework" can be scrutinised and further refined in future research
Determinants and consequences of budget reallocations
Get PDFWe investigate the determinants and consequences of budget reallocations—that is, corrective changes to the budget made during the year. Using proprietary data from a large consumer goods manufacturer, we analyze the extent to which initial budgeting decisions drive reallocations. Examining this relationship is important because initial budget negotiations are often troubled by power struggles and politicking, which may give rise to the need for reallocations. We hypothesize that one important driver of reallocation decisions is the firm's aim to correct systematic deviations from the optimal initial budget that were driven by lobbying during the initial budgeting process. We find evidence that is consistent with this prediction. In a more exploratory analysis, we show that reallocations do not have the desired effects on market performance. In particular, budget cuts are negatively associated with a product's change in market share. More surprisingly, while budget increases do help product lines achieve their sales targets in the last quarter, they do not boost market share. Our results demonstrate that efficient investment planning is essential to achieve an improvement in market performance
Der Einfluss von Kommunikation in virtuellen Teams
Get PDFVirtuelle Teams haben in den letzten Jahren immer mehr an Bedeutung gewonnen und auch Studierende sind aufgrund von Distance-Learning gezwungen in virtuellen Teams zusammenzuarbeiten. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Kommunikation in virtuellen Teams, da sich diese erheblich von der traditionellen face-to-face Kommunikation unterscheidet. In weiterer Folge wurden die Aspekte Teamidentifikation, Arbeitszufriedenheit und Entscheidungsprozess in Zusammenhang mit der virtuellen Kommunikation näher untersucht, da diese einen entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Zusammenarbeit im Team besitzen. Um die Hypothesen überprüfen zu können, wurde eine Online-Befragung bei 259 Studierenden durchgeführt sowie ein kurzes Experiment, um die Praxis näher beleuchten zu können. Es konnte bestätigt werden, dass die Kommunikation in virtuellen Teams geringer ist als in face-to-face Teams und die virtuelle Kommunikation einen signifikanten Einfluss auf die drei Aspekte Teamidentifikation, Arbeitszufriedenheit und Entscheidungsprozess besitzt. Weiters konnte festgestellt werden, dass die non-verbale und informelle Kommunikation einen bedeutenden Faktor im Kommunikationsprozess darstellen.Series: Theses / Institute for Nonprofit Managemen