1,720,959 research outputs found
Inter-municipal cooperation performance measurement: a critical literature review and research agenda
Full text linkInter-municipal cooperation (IMC) is a popular policy lacking appropriate performance measurement. This paper critically examines academic literature on the performance measurement of inter-municipal cooperation. It suggests a starting point for new evaluation research specific to IMC. Relevant papers are analysed to identify and explore potential research paths and formulate an agenda. The main criticality tackled by this review regards the "measurement for the sake of measurement" mindset, which leads to unbalance towards quantitative data, which is insufficient to reflect the complexities of public administration. Starting from the results, we posit a research agenda for further investigation of the performance of local shared services
Narrative di condivisione: un’indagine approfondita sull’efficacia delle Unioni di Comuni = Sharing narratives: An In-depth Investigation of the Effectiveness of Italian Unioni di Comuni
No full textLa cooperazione intercomunale è una strategia utilizzata dalle amministrazioni locali per ottenere una gamma più ampia di servizi e una maggiore efficienza ed efficacia, ma spesso non porta risultati. Su circa 537 Unioni di Comuni in Italia, solo due sembrano funzionare secondo le aspettative del legislatore, e cioè condividendo tutte le funzioni e i servizi fondamentali. In
questo studio, esploriamo la loro storia e scopriamo che il loro alto grado di cooperazione è influenzato da fattori come l’esistenza di precedenti accordi di cooperazione, ma anche dalla cultura del territorio e che la maggior parte dei loro benefici non sono finanziari.Inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) is a local government strategy to achieve a wider range of services, and increased efficiency and effectiveness, but it is oftentimes not effective. Out of
537 Unioni di Comuni in Italy, only two seem to work as per expectations of policymakers. In this study, we explore their story and find that their high grade of cooperation is influenced by
factors such as the existence of previous agreements of cooperation but also the culture of the territory and that most of their benefits are non-financial.La coopération intercommunale (CII) est une stratégie gouvernementale locale visant à offrir une gamme plus large de services, ainsi qu’à accroître l’efficacité et l’efficience, mais elle n’est souvent pas efficace. Sur les 537 Unions de Communes en Italie, Seules deux semblent fonctionner
selon les attentes du législateur, c’est-à-dire en partageant toutes les fonctions fondamentales. Dans cette étude, nous explorons leur histoire et découvrons que leur succès et leur haut degré de coopération sont influencés par des facteurs tels que l’existence d’accords de coopération précédents, mais aussi par la culture du territoire, et que la plupart de leurs avantages sont non financiers
Citizen satisfaction with arm's length bodies in local government: expert insights on policy and practice
Full text linkPurpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the application of citizen satisfaction (CS) as a tool for measuring performance by arm's length bodies (ALBs) in local governments across eleven countries, addressing central questions about its functionality and influencing factors.
Design/methodology/approach
We employ a hybrid inductive-deductive explorative study design, characterized by an iterative interpretative approach guided by sensitizing concepts. Expert interviews are analyzed through template analysis and cover eleven countries where ALBs are present due to decentralization and outsourcing.
Findings
Our study uncovers limited real-world applications of CS in evaluating public service delivery by ALBs. Expert interviews reveal insights into factors potentially influencing CS use, such as the level of autonomy of local governments, state traditions and austerity measures. A research agenda is formulated for further investigation.
Originality/value
Contributing to the CS debate, our study focuses on its application in evaluating public service delivery by ALBs. The explorative design, expert opinions and theoretical foundations enhance understanding, offering insights into factors potentially shaping CS use in this context. The study proposes a research agenda, propelling further investigations into this underexplored, yet emerging, area
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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