Institut für Höhere Studien - Institute for Advanced Studies
IRIHS - Institutional Repository at IHSNot a member yet
6516 research outputs found
Sort by
Vote choice under certainty, risk, and uncertainty
Full text linkVoters are thought to be repelled by unclear party communication or all-out uncertainty about their ideological or programmatic positions. Our contribution builds on a series of survey experiments in the alternative states of certainty, risk, and uncertainty. Choice under risk occurs, for instance, when electoral platforms transmit blurred or unclear signals. However, the range of potential positions and their respective probabilities is considered common, exogenous knowledge: we find that these scenarios neither attract nor repel voters. In contrast, choice under uncertainty is given when potential outcomes or their respective probabilities are unknown to the voters and require endogenous cognitive abilities and endogenous signal processing: we demonstrate that choice under uncertainty tends to drive away voters. The experimental setup considers both spatial and non-spatial components of voter utility and their contextual conditions to bolster external validity and arrive at more internally and externally valid assessments of vote choice under various ‘‘states of nature’’
Tax Audit Quality: The Role Of Experience And Technology Readiness In A Digital World
Full text linkSociety is digitising at a rapid pace and tax authorities must keep up with significant changes in how companies administer their tax liabilities. Tax auditors must be able to achieve an efficient and effective audit quality regardless of the degrees to which digitisation and digitalisation have been implemented by the audited companies. Previous research shows a positive correlation between audit experience and audit quality. However, it is unclear whether more experience—which was most likely acquired in traditional audits of accounting systems with low levels of digitalisation—is also beneficial in a changing environment with more highly digitalised companies. We argue that more experienced tax auditors are only superior to less experienced auditors in this changing environment if they are sufficiently willing and equipped to use new technologies and more digitised data. We expect—and find—that experienced tax auditors with adequate technology readiness achieve a higher audit quality in detecting information technology (IT) risks than tax auditors with less experience and/or less technology readiness. Our results, however, also show that more experienced tax auditors do not perform better when detecting traditional risks (i.e. non-IT-related risks) than less experienced auditors. Overall, our results suggest that experience without the propensity to embrace and use new technologies and more digitised data might not be enough to achieve the required audit quality levels in the future. We therefore emphasise the importance of appropriate training (in order to adopt new ways of working and acquire competencies to understand new technologies) and the strategic composition of the tax authorities’ audit teams
Das österreichische Hochschulsystem
Full text linkDie Hochschulforschung in Österreich zeichnet sich durch eine vielfältige Struktur aus, die sich aus der dezentralen Verankerung an den Hochschulen und einer flexiblen, drittmittelgestützten Forschungsförderung ergibt. Thematisch wurde die Hochschulforschung über lange Zeit maßgeblich von den großen Reformprozessen geprägt, die wichtige Impulse für ihre Entwicklung setzten. Daneben gibt es relevante Forschungsaktivitäten an und außerhalb der Hochschulen sowie Netzwerkaktivitäten, die den Austausch und die Zusammenarbeit fördern, insbesondere durch Projekte und Kooperationen auf nationaler und internationaler Ebene. Dazu gehören Studien zur Hochschulgovernance, Analysen zur sozialen Durchlässigkeit und Chancengleichheit sowie Untersuchungen zur Wirkung des Bolognaprozesses. Ebenso sind Forschungen zur Hochschuldidaktik, Digitalisierung und zu Karriereverläufen in der Wissenschaft von Bedeutung
Ready-Steady-Go: oder doch nicht? Analyse der Vorschule im österreichischen Bildungssystem.
Full text linkDas österreichische Bildungssystem ist für seine stark diversifizierte und in Leistungsgruppen segmentierende Struktur bekannt. Bezeichnend dafür ist, dass nach einer gesamtschulähnlichen Ausbildung in der Volksschule das „Tracking“ im internationalen Vergleich bereits früh, schon bei Zehnjährigen, beginnt. Doch bei genauerer Betrachtung setzt das Tracking in Österreich noch viel früher ein, nämlich gleich am Beginn der Schullaufbahn. Hierbei ist die Zurückstufung „nicht schulreifer“ Kinder im Alter von sechs Jahren in die Vorschule zu nennen. Als Maßnahme gedacht den Kindern mehr Zeit für die Entwicklung der Voraussetzungen für einen Schulbesuch zu geben, stellt der Besuch der Vorschule, durch seine Einrechnung in die Pflichtschulzeit, aber einen Laufbahnverlust dar.
Der Beitrag widmet sich konkret zwei Fragestellungen. Erstens: Wie gestalten sich Ausmaß und soziale Verteilung des Vorschulbesuchs? Zweitens: Welche Zusammenhänge mit Erfolg und Misserfolg in der weiteren Bildungslaufbahn sind mit dem Vorschulbesuch verbunden? Grundlage für diese Analysen bildet ein Registerdatensatz, der eine gesamte Schuleintrittskohorte umfasst und deren Bildungslaufbahn über 15 Jahre hinweg abbildet.
Deskriptive Analysen zeigen eine hochgradige soziale und regionale Ungleichverteilung des Vorschulbesuchs. Regressionsanalysen offenbaren, dass der Vorschulbesuch in einem deutlich „positiven“ Zusammenhang mit „Early School Leaving“ steht und einem noch viel stärker negativen Zusammenhang mit dem Erlangen einer Matura am Ende der Sekundarstufe II. Die Ergebnisse leisten einen Beitrag dazu, die Selektivität im österreichischen Bildungssystem neu einzuordnen und ergänzen die empirische Evidenz zum Zusammenhang von „Tracking“ mit der weiteren Bildungslaufbahn. Auf einer Policy-Ebene bildet der Beitrag eine Grundlage dafür, eine Reform der Schuleinstiegsphase anzustoßen.
The Austrian education system is known for its highly diversified structure that channels students into ability groups. It is characteristic of this system that, after a comprehensive school-like education in primary school, tracking begins (in international comparison) early, at the age of ten. In fact, tracking in Austria begins much earlier, namely at the very beginning of a child’s school career. So the downgrading of “immature” children at the age of six to pre-school also falls under this category. Intended as a measure to give children more time to develop the prerequisites for attending school, attending preschool represents a loss of career path due to its inclusion in compulsory schooling.
The article is specifically dedicated to two questions. Firstly, what is the extent and social distribution of preschool attendance? Secondly, which level of success in the further educational career is associated with preschool attendance? The basis for these analyses is a register data set that covers an entire school entry cohort and maps the further educational career over 15 years.
Descriptive analyses show a highly social and regionally uneven distribution of preschool attendance. Regression analyses reveal that preschool attendance is significantly positively associated with early school leaving and even more strongly negatively associated with obtaining a university entrance qualification at the end of upper secondary education. The results contribute to a better understanding of the selectivity in the Austrian education system and add to the empirical evidence on the relationship between tracking and further educational pathways. On a policy level, the article provides a basis for initiating a reform of the school entry phase
The impact of prior education on student success in higher education: how do different school types influence success in different fields of study?
Full text linkThe course of an individual’s education is shaped by a series of pivotaldecisions. Each of these decisions has the potential to influenceeducational pathways and success. This study examines the impact ofupper secondary school type on success in higher education inAustria. Austria offers a high degree of diversification in its educationalsystem, with a range of academic and vocational pathways availablefrom the age of 14. I introduce the concept of disciplinarycounterparts which describes types of high schools and fields of studythat share the same or a similar field of education. Based onadministrative data of students, separate Cox proportional hazardsmodels for 16 fields of study are fitted. The findings indicate that noschool type has a consistently higher graduation probability across allfields of study. Students from business vocational high schools (VHS)and technical VHS have a higher graduation probability in fields ofstudy that are considered disciplinary counterparts than students fromother types of VHS and academic high schools. This study emphasisesthe significance of prior education and the necessity of providingsupport structures for students who change fields between the uppersecondary and tertiary level to enhance success for all students
Retrieval from mixed sampling frequency: generic identifiability in the unit root VAR
Full text linkThe “retrieval from mixed frequency sampling” approach based on blocking—described e.g., in Anderson et al. (Econom Theory 32:793–826, 2016a)—is concerned with retrieving an underlying high frequency model from mixed frequency observations. In this paper, we investigate parameter-identifiability in the Johansen (Likelihood-based inference in cointegrated vector autoregressive models. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1995) vector error correction model for mixed frequency data. We prove that from the second moments of the blocked process after taking differences at lag N (N is the slow sampling rate), the parameters of the high frequency system are generically identified. We treat the stock and the flow case
Community Education in der Architektur der österreichischen LLL-Strategie. Vergebene Chancen für das lebenslange Lernen?
Full text linkDer Autor reflektiert in diesem Beitrag die Entwicklung der österreichischen LLL-Strategie mit einem Fokus auf die Community Education. Er fragt dabei nach dem Platz der Community Education innerhalb der Strategie sowie nach einer zielführenden Zusammenarbeit zwischen Politik und Wissenschaft. Der Autor beschreibt die von Expert*innen im Jahr 2009 vorgeschlagenen Aktionslinien und zeigt, dass informelles Lernen seiner Einschätzung nach nicht die Aufmerksamkeit erhielt, die von den Expert*innen empfohlen wurde. Vielmehr fokussiere die LLL-Strategie letztlich wieder stärker auf Bildungsinstitutionen, so der Standpunkt des Autors. Die von den Expert*innen formulierte Idee, durch Community Education einen politischen Raum und Fördermöglichkeiten für kommunale und zivilgesellschaftliche Initiativen zu schaffen, wäre nicht ausreichend umgesetzt worden. Der Autor appelliert daher für mehr Interaktion zwischen Wissenschaft und Politik, für eine transdisziplinäre Wissensproduktion und für konstruktive innovative Diskurse mit allen Beteiligten und Betroffenen einer LLL-Strategie. So könne informelles Lernen in der sozialen Gemeinschaft zukünftig gestärkt werden. (Red.
Exploring Student Success in Austrian Higher Education: The Role of Prior Education, Fields of Study, and Student Characteristics
No full textThis thesis investigates what shapes students’ success in Austrian higher education. It is partic-ularly concerned with the impact of prior education, differences across fields of study, and individual characteristics that may indicate social inequalities. This objective is approached through a socio-economic and sociological lens by using a mixed method approach, including analyses of register data, survey data, and narrative interviews.
The upper secondary level of the Austrian education system is characterised by a high level of differentiation, with various types of academic and vocational high schools available. These academic and vocational high schools provide access to higher education, yet they differ in terms of their disciplinary focus. In order to analyse the influence of these different school types on students’ success in higher education, the concept of disciplinary counterparts and disciplinary proximity is developed in this thesis. This concept describes school types and fields of study that share the same or a closely-related discipline and is based on theoretical considerations of discipline-specific prior knowledge and disciplinary habitus. For most fields of study, the findings show that students who attended a school that is a disciplinary counterpart to their field of study have a higher probability of graduating than their peers who attended other school types. While the likelihood of graduation is generally higher at universities of applied sciences than at universities, the pattern that students from disciplinary counterpart schools are more likely to graduate have been observed at both types of institutions.
Students who enter higher education through non-traditional access routes such as delayed transition and second-chance education are less likely to graduate from higher education than those with a traditional ‘Matura’ and a direct transition. However, students with non-traditional access are typically older and confronted with different life circumstances than younger stu-dents. These include, for example, working during their studies or having caring responsibili-ties for children. Such external factors limit the time available for studying, thereby prolonging their studies and increasing their risk of dropping out. Furthermore, individual student charac-teristics such as gender, parental education, and migrant background were found to have a sig-nificant impact on the likelihood of success. However, they exert heterogeneous effects, i.e. the direction and magnitude of the effects vary between fields of study. Students with study delays face complex and intertwined problems, which often occur at the start of their studies. These include problems with learning and motivation, but also severe psychological disorders.
The findings particularly emphasise the complex interplay between prior education and higher education, the heterogeneity of fields of study, and the heterogeneity of students, thereby mak-ing an important contribution to future research and to the development of policy measures to enhance student success