Abschlussbericht für DFG Projekt "A 'gold standard' of institutional assessment? Operationalizing and explaining political biases in large numbers of international organization evaluation reports"

This research project examined the role of political influences in evaluation processes within international organizations (IOs). Evaluations are widely used as tools for accountability and learning, but concerns have been raised about their neutrality and independence. While previous research has largely relied on perception-based evidence, this study systematically analysed the content of evaluation reports to assess whether political biases shape evaluation findings and recommendations. At the core of the project was a quantitative content analysis of 1,082 evaluation reports. Based on novel conceptualizations of evaluation biases and using a state-of-the-art fine-tuned BERT language model, nearly one million sentences from these reports were classified as positive, neutral, or negative. Additionally, the recommendations given in a sample of 240 evaluation reports were manually coded regarding the type and depth of recommendations given. Findings show on the one hand that evaluation findings—the assessments of IO performance—do not exhibit systematic biases based on whether evaluation units (in terms of their budget, staffing and agenda) are controlled by IO administrations or member states. Evaluation recommendations on the other hand, do reflect stakeholder influence. Reports from IO administration-controlled evaluation units contained broader, less specific recommendations that tended to favour increasing organizational resources while avoiding proposals for additional oversight. In contrast, member state-controlled evaluations were more targeted and focused on strengthening accountability mechanisms. These patterns suggest that political considerations influence how evaluation results are translated into policy recommendations. Another key finding concerns the role of the commissioning entity. Evaluations commissioned by decentralized operational units, which are closely involved in project/program implementation, tended to be systematically more positive than those conducted by independent central evaluation units. This suggests that decentralized evaluations may be subject to direct or indirect pressure to present findings in a more favourable light.All data and the language model were published. Substantive findings were presented at conferences and published in a book with Oxford University Press and in leading journals of political science (with peer review). Beyond academic contributions, the project was characterized by intensive exchange with practitioners. Regular consultations were held with evaluation professionals from the UN system, development agencies, and international organizations. Key findings were presented to the UN Evaluation Group and shared in various practitioner networks to ensure that the research remained relevant for those working directly with evaluation processes

Joining forces for online feedback management: policy recommendations for human–AI collaboration

Online customer feedback management (CFM) is becoming increasingly important for businesses. Providing timely and effective responses to guest reviews can be challenging, especially as the volume of reviews grows. This paper explores the response process and the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) augmentation in response formulation. We propose an orchestration concept for human–AI collaboration in co-writing within the hospitality industry, supported by a novel NLP-based solution that combines the strengths of both human and AI. Although complete automation of the response process remains out of reach, our findings offer practical implications for improving response speed and quality through human–AI collaboration. Additionally, we formulate policy recommendations for businesses and regulators in CFM. Our study provides transferable design knowledge for developing future CFM products

Music Listening in Concerts: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives on Listeners and their Listening Experience in Classical Music Performances

The perception of and aesthetic experience with music has been studied for decades in various disciplines. Often, especially in empirical studies, the situated context of the musical experience and the active role of the listener are overlooked. The present cumulative dissertation aims to address this by examining the act of listening to music in the context of Western classical music performances against the background of 4E cognition and with an interdisciplinary and multimethodological approach. This involves conducting literature-based and theoretical investigations, as well as experimental quantitative and qualitative analyses. In seven individual articles, models of aesthetic experience in concerts are developed with a focus on the concert setting and the listening activity, listening modes and their impact on the experience are explored, types of concertgoers are differentiated, and audiovisual streaming concerts are analyzed regarding the audience experience. All empirical data was collected in ecologically valid experiments in in-person and audiovisual streamed Western classical music performances. Results show that music listening in classical concerts is a highly individual activity that is shaped by one's own listening mode, the concert setting, and various individual factors, such as motivations and expectations. Further, digital concert formats are found to influence the individual experience by serving as affordances for experiential dimensions of music. The findings suggest that the relation between the individual listening mode, the listening context and the music should be increasingly considered in music psychology and empirical aesthetics as well as in cultural sociology and cultural management. Future research can build upon the obtained results by following up on and testing the developed models and hypotheses and conducting replication studies to verify the findings. In line with this dissertation, the intertwining of qualitative and quantitative methods and an interdisciplinaryapproach are recommended to tackle the complex phenomenon of music listening

Business Confucianism Yearbook 2024

The work "Corporate Confucianism Yearbook (2024)", edited by Li Honglei and a large editorial committee, focuses on the development and practices of Corporate Confucianism, which integrates traditional Confucian values into modern enterprise management. The yearbook documents theoretical research, case studies, and practical applications of Confucian principles in business operations, corporate culture, and leadership philosophies.Theoretical Exploration – Discusses Confucian principles applied to modern enterprises.Case Studies – Analyzes real-world examples of businesses implementing Corporate Confucianism.Academic Research – Compiles scholarly articles and conference reports on the topic.Corporate Culture & Governance – Examines how Confucian ethics influence leadership and employee relations.Global Perspectives – Explores the internationalization of Corporate Confucianism.Matthias Niedenführ is the only European member of the Editorial Committee of the Book Series "Corporate Confucianism Yearbook"