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Societal Readiness Thinking Process 2.0: Incorporating Epistemic Reflexivity for Responsible Innovation
Full text linkFrameworks for ascertaining the societal dimensions of research and innovation (R&I), such as the Societal Readiness Thinking Tool (SRTT), have supported reflection on ethics and responsibility but often risk reducing reflexivity to procedural checklists or impact assessments. This paper develops an enhanced version, the reflexive SRTT 2.0 process, by incorporating concepts of epistemic reflexivity and ethnomethodological sensitivity. We introduce the concept of reflexive societal readiness, which understands readiness as a situated, ongoing accomplishment shaped by both local practices and institutional “relations of ruling.” Drawing on ethnomethodological observations, reflexive questionnaires, and an initial workshop in the Horizon Europe project AGRO4AGRI, we examined how researchers engaged with reflexivity in practice. Our findings reveal three recurring patterns: reflexivity was often deflected through reliance on methodological safeguards, outsourced to societal impact experts or stakeholders, and substituted with compliance to regulatory frameworks or dominant imaginaries of sustainability and competitiveness. These practices uphold internal project orders and limit the potential for interdisciplinary learning and critical engagement. To address these obstacles, SRTT 2.0 proposes a reflexive process combining (a) observation of situated practices, (b) reflexive questioning that foregrounds individual positionalities, and (c) workshops that foster collaborative and institutional learning. This design enables researchers to critically interrogate their assumptions, engage more meaningfully with inclusion, and question the sociotechnical imaginaries shaping their work. We argue that embedding such reflexive processes into project lifecycles can extend and strengthen Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) frameworks by cultivating collaborative, empathetic, and institutional learning. While challenges remain, SRTT 2.0 offers a transferable pathway for fostering more reflexive and responsible innovation practices
Zur Handelsabhängigkeit Europas und Österreichs von China
Full text linkDer Beitrag analysiert die Handelsabhängigkeit Europas und Österreichs von China auf Basis einer Übersicht aktueller Literatur. Dabei werden auch die besonderen Risiken im Handel mit China beleuchtet. Neben den direkten Importverflechtungen werden auch die indirekten Abhängigkeiten über Vorleistungen untersucht. Ein besonderes Augenmerk gilt dabei strategischen Produkten mit geringer Substituierbarkeit, insbesondere im Rohstoff- und Pharmasektor. Abschließend werden wirtschaftspolitische Handlungsoptionen diskutiert. Um strategische Abhängigkeiten zu verringern, sollte die EU eine kohärente Strategie zur Diversifizierung der Import- und Exportmärkte verfolgen. Dazu sollte sie insbesondere neue Handelsabkommen abschließen und das regelbasierte multilaterale Handelssystem stärken
Drivers of Tax Compliance: Survey Evidence from 1,761 Greek Micro-Firms
Full text linkIn countries where tax compliance is low and tax evasion is widespread, the specific compliance behavior of micro-business owners remains poorly understood. This study addresses this gap by analyzing both voluntary and enforced tax compliance among a nationally representative sample of 1761 micro-business owners in Greece. Guided by the Slippery Slope Framework (SSF), we find that trust in tax authorities is closely associated with voluntary compliance, whereas perceptions of coercive power are primarily linked to enforced compliance. Notably, women leading micro-businesses report higher trust and stronger compliance intentions across both motivational types. Perceptions of fairness, legitimacy, and corruption, as well as emotional responses toward tax authorities, are related to trust and indirectly associated with voluntary compliance. Our findings underscore the central role of trust in understanding cooperative taxpayer behavior and suggest that service-oriented, transparent, and fair administrative practices could support greater voluntary compliance, particularly within the micro-business sector
Integration During the Entire Survey Process: The Usage of Survey and Administrative Data in the Austrian Student Social Survey
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Endbericht zum Forschungsvorhaben. Auswirkungen der Anhebung des Mindestlohns auf 12 Euro auf individuelle Beschäftigungsbewegungen und betriebliche Lohnstrukturen
Full text linkThe Essential Tension: Patsy Healey’s Conception of Democracy in Planning and Public Policy
Full text linkPatsy Healey was a major democratic theorist. Although often implicit, it is easy to discern in her work a normative-empirical theory of democracy that is characterized by a focus on improving state institutions and leveraging the experiential knowledge of affected citizens with the issue at hand. Two features distinguish Patsy’s approach to democratic governance. Her refusal to vacate the essential tension between an institutional and a participatory, practice-oriented approach to democracy. And a steadfast pragmatist approach to collective problem solving that valorizes the effectiveness of experiential knowledge. This orientation impelled her to grasp democracy governance through the micro-politics of planning and public policy and suffuse her work with a spirit of hope
Ökonomische Effekte der Bad Kleinkirchheimer Bergbahnen. Modul 4: Ökonomische Effekte des Sommertourismus 2024
No full textDo Tight Labor Markets Pay Off for the Unemployed? Evidence from Austria
No full textThis paper studies the impact of labor market tightness on employment outcomes for unemployed job seekers in Austria. Using administrative data from 2011 to 2022, we construct granular measures of labor market tightness based on regional and occupational vacancy-to-unemployment ratios. To address endogeneity concerns, we employ a shift-share instrumental variable strategy that leverages variation in tightness across occupations and regions. We find that a 1 percent increase in tightness raises the probability of finding a job within 3 months by 0.109 percentage points. Entry wages respond positively but modestly on average (elasticity of 0.015), with effects concentrated in high-tightness environments. In particularly scarce occupations, wage elasticities reach 0.075, indicating strong non-linear returns to tightness. Effects are larger for job seekers with lower pre-unemployment income or longer unemployment spells. Tighter markets also lead to higher job stability after reemployment, with increased likelihood of remaining employed beyond 12 months. These findings are consistent with standard search and matching models and underscore the role of labor market conditions in shaping job seekers’ bargaining power. This study provides new evidence on the benefits of tight labor markets for unemployed job seekers and informs policy efforts aimed at improving matching efficiency and mitigating labor shortages
Informal Care Work From a Queer Lens: Challenging Heteronormative Paradigms
Full text linkThis paper emphasizes the importance of incorporating queer perspectives and practices into the general academic discourse on the organization of informal care. We refer to queer informal care work as (1) unpaid care arrangements and support systems that are (2) provided by individuals who position themselves in queer contexts and that are (3) tailored to the specific needs and experiences of queer individuals, whose condition or wellbeing would deteriorate or not improve without the assistance of others. Such care modalities may differ from traditional informal care models in various ways, particularly as they are not anchored around heterosexual nuclear families in the domestic sphere. Furthermore, specific informal care needs uniquely arise for queer identities given the challenges related to rejections from families of origin, systemic discrimination, or violence. Thus far, a substantial amount of informal care work carried out by and for queer persons remains largely invisible to society. Consequently, the aim of this article is to provide a critical literature review of concepts of informal care work in queer contexts and to propose methodological research avenues aimed at queering contemporary care discourses