Discursive strategies for internal legitimacy:Narrating the alternative organizational form

A significant body of academic work has explored the ways in which hybrid organizations seek to secure external legitimacy. However, there is a more limited understanding of the ways in which organizational units in hybrid organizations seek to acquire internal legitimacy – legitimacy which is conferred by internal stakeholders. This study draws on more than a century of com- munications in a Dutch cooperative bank to uncover how a major organizational unit enacted distinct discursive strategies to seek internal legitimacy. The paper extends prior work by showing how internal legitimacy work – the efforts to shape, reinforce, or suppress internal legitimacy judgments – in a hybrid organization is a dynamic process whereby an internal unit generates multiple complementary narratives to promote a fit between its own attributes and the legitimacy evaluations by internal audiences. In addition, it shows how internal legitimacy work can pro- mote this fit by attempting to manipulate not only the impressions of the internal unit’s attributes, but also its audiences’ understanding of wider cultural norms of the day, on which their legiti- macy judgments are based. In this vein, the paper highlights how discursive internal legitimacy work seeks to generate a taken-for-granted organizational position for the internal units concerned

The Authority of Distributed Consensus Systems Trust, Governance, and Normative Perspectives on Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers

The subjects of this dissertation are distributed consensus systems (DCS). These systems gained prominence with the implementation of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. This work aims at understanding the drivers and motives behind the adoption of this class of technologies, and to – consequently – evaluate the social and normative implications of blockchains and distributed ledgers. To do so, a phenomenological account of the field of distributed consensus systems is offered, then the core claims for the adoption of systems are taken into consideration. Accordingly, the relevance of these technologies on trust and governance is examined. It will be argued that the effects on these two elements do not justify the adoption of distributed consensus systems satisfactorily. Against this backdrop, it will be held that blockchains and similar technologies are being adopted because they are regarded as having a valid claim to authority as specified by Max Weber, i.e., herrschaft. Consequently, it will be discussed whether current implementations fall – and to what extent – within the legitimate types of traditional, charismatic, and rational-legal authority. The conclusion is that the conceptualization developed by Weber does not capture the core ideas that appear to establish the belief in the legitimacy of distributed consensus systems. Therefore, this dissertation describes the herrschaft of systems such as blockchains by conceptualizing a computational extension of the pure type of rational-legal authority, qualified as algorithmic authority. The foundational elements of algorithmic authority are then discussed. Particular attention is focused on the idea of normativity cultivated in systems of algorithmic rules as well as the concept of decentralization. Practical suggestions conclude the following dissertation

Writing self-efficacy changes after cognitive strategy intervention in students with learning disabilities: the mediational role of gender in calibration

Este estudio examina el papel mediacional del género en los efectos de dos patrones de intervenciones de estrategias cognitivas y auto-reguladoras en la calibración de la autoeficacia escritora de alumnos con dificultades de aprendizaje (DA). Se asignaron al azar a 121 alumnos de educación primaria de 5º y 6º con DA (43 chicas y 78 chicos), edades entre 10 y 12 años, o a uno de los grupos de intervención experimental (n = 48, 19 chicas y 29 chicos), y recibieron un programa de intervención basado en el modelo de desarrollo de estrategia auto-regulada o un entrenamiento basado en el modelo cognitivo de adquisición secuencial de habilidades (n = 31, 15 chicas y 26 chicos), o alternativamente, fueron asignados a un grupo de instrucción normal (n = 32, 9 chicas y 23 chicos). Se evaluó la ejecución de escritura con dos tipos evaluación: una puntuación basada en el lector, ligada a la estructura, la coherencia y la calidad, y una puntuación basada en el texto, ligada a la productividad, la coherencia y la estructura. Las creencias de autoeficacia sobre la escritura también se evaluaron con una escala de auto-informe que incluía ocho ítems acerca de la confianza de los alumnos al completar una tarea de escritura y al ganar habilidades de escritura específica. Los resultados sugieren que la calibración errónea de la autoeficacia de escritura en chicas con DA se modificó significativamente a una calibración más realista de su competencia en escritura después de la intervención experimental. Sin embargo, los resultados no confirman lo mismo para los chicos.This study examines the mediational role of gender in the effects of two patterns of cognitive and self-regulatory strategy interventions in the writing self-efficacy calibration of students with learning disabilities (LD). 121 5th and 6th Primary grade students with LD (43 girls and 78 boys), ranging in age from 10 to 12 years old were randomly allocated either to one of the experimental intervention groups, (n = 48, 19 girls and 29 boys), and followed a intervention program based on the Self-Regulated Strategy Development Model, or they received training based on the Social Cognitive Model of Sequential Skill Acquisition (n = 31, 15 girls and 26 boys), or alternatively they were allocated to the ordinary instruction group (n = 32, 9 girls and 23 boys). Writing performance was assessed using two types of writing evaluation: a readerbased score concerned with structure, coherence and quality, and a text based score regarding productivity, coherence and structure. Writing self-efficacy beliefs were also assessed using a self-report scale including eight items about the students’ confidence in completing a writing task and to gain specific writing skills. The results suggest that the miscalibration of writing self-efficacy in girls with LD was significantly modified to a more realistic calibration of their writing competence after experimental intervention. However, the findings do not confirm the same clear statement for boys

Pauses and the temporal structure of speech

Natural-sounding speech synthesis requires close control over the temporal structure of the speech flow. This includes a full predictive scheme for the durational structure and in particuliar the prolongation of final syllables of lexemes as well as for the pausal structure in the utterance. In this chapter, a description of the temporal structure and the summary of the numerous factors that modify it are presented. In the second part, predictive schemes for the temporal structure of speech ("performance structures") are introduced, and their potential for characterising the overall prosodic structure of speech is demonstrated

Canadian Corporate Financial Crime: A Critical Analysis

“Corporations, by their very nature …will engage in criminal behaviour” (Glasbeek, 2003, p. 130). This research considers one form of corporate financial crime: violations of provincial securities legislation in Canada. The opportunities for corporate financial crime were considered using a critical discourse analysis of the decisions, extending orders, orders, settlement agreements, and official news releases from the provincial securities regulators between the years 1986 and 2012. Seven sites of opportunity were considered: corporations, corporate officers, industry, nation-state, regulators, technology, and investors. Each site contributed to the creation of a criminogenic environment. The findings, based on the analyses of 76 corporate financial crime cases, suggest that the ability to create multiple corporate entities and connect them across multiple jurisdictions contributes to this environment. Additionally, corporate officers take advantage of personal relationships to sell securities. Recidivism was not uncommon among the officers. The majority of corporations involved in financial crime came from three industries: finance, real estate, and mining, oil and gas. Neoliberalism as a guiding ideology of economic policy limited the regulatory intervention. Technology was most often an accessory to crime; individual investors were the victims of the crimes. The opportunities for crime were considered from a critical theoretical perspective, informed by the work of Marx, Foucault, and Castells. Findings indicate that although securities regulations are neither coercive nor facilitative, regulations serve an ideological function by maintaining the impression that corporations are not above the law. Corporations as political actors influence government perspectives on regulations, thereby influencing the laws that are created. This research provides (a) a sociological perspective of the Canadian features of corporate financial crime, (b) a seven factor explanatory model of the enabling environment, (c) a categorization of corporate crime – opportunities and concealments, and (d) four approaches for mitigating harm to investors

Consultation in the policy process: Douglasian cultural theory and the development of accounting regulation in the face of crisis

This article employs Douglasian cultural theory to explain how policy consultations intended to secure meaningful reform can, in fact, work to reinforce the status quo. The context for this is an examination of responses to three consultations established by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the body responsible for regulating accounting and auditing in the UK. The results reveal a lack of diversity of voices in the responses to three consultations, with the enclave and isolate voices being significantly under-represented despite the policy issues under debate being related to the financial crisis. Further, the initial pre-consultation proposals are largely unchanged post-consultation. We suggest that the regulator has not been captured; but instead is subject to what may be described as self-capture. Self-capture describes the instinctive reaction of a solidarity to act to uphold its pattern of social relations which results in the regulator's worldview inevitably (and unwittingly) being perpetuated

Semantic framework for regulatory compliance support

Regulatory Compliance Management (RCM) is a management process, which an organization implements to conform to regulatory guidelines. Some processes that contribute towards automating RCM are: (i) extraction of meaningful entities from the regulatory text and (ii) mapping regulatory guidelines with organisational processes. These processes help in updating the RCM with changes in regulatory guidelines. The update process is still manual since there are comparatively less research in this direction. The Semantic Web technologies are potential candidates in order to make the update process automatic. There are stand-alone frameworks that use Semantic Web technologies such as Information Extraction, Ontology Population, Similarities and Ontology Mapping. However, integration of these innovative approaches in the semantic compliance management has not been explored yet. Considering these two processes as crucial constituents, the aim of this thesis is to automate the processes of RCM. It proposes a framework called, RegCMantic. The proposed framework is designed and developed in two main phases. The first part of the framework extracts the regulatory entities from regulatory guidelines. The extraction of meaningful entities from the regulatory guidelines helps in relating the regulatory guidelines with organisational processes. The proposed framework identifies the document-components and extracts the entities from the document-components. The framework extracts important regulatory entities using four components: (i) parser, (ii) definition terms, (iii) ontological concepts and (iv) rules. The parsers break down a sentence into useful segments. The extraction is carried out by using the definition terms, ontological concepts and the rules in the segments. The entities extracted are the core-entities such as subject, action and obligation, and the aux-entities such as time, place, purpose, procedure and condition. The second part of the framework relates the regulatory guidelines with organisational processes. The proposed framework uses a mapping algorithm, which considers three types of Abstract 3 entities in the regulatory-domain and two types of entities in the process-domains. In the regulatory-domain, the considered entities are regulation-topic, core-entities and aux-entities. Whereas, in the process-domain, the considered entities are subject and action. Using these entities, it computes aggregation of three types of similarity scores: topic-score, core-score and aux-score. The aggregate similarity score determines whether a regulatory guideline is related to an organisational process. The RegCMantic framework is validated through the development of a prototype system. The prototype system implements a case study, which involves regulatory guidelines governing the Pharmaceutical industries in the UK. The evaluation of the results from the case-study has shown improved accuracy in extraction of the regulatory entities and relating regulatory guidelines with organisational processes. This research has contributed in extracting meaningful entities from regulatory guidelines, which are provided in unstructured text and mapping the regulatory guidelines with organisational processes semantically

The Regulatory Status Analysis for Updating the Public Legal Awareness on Human Rights in Indonesia

In this study, it is argued that quantitative empirical legal research can support understanding public legal awareness of the implementation of human rights protection in Indonesia. The public legal awareness is analyzed using the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling to provide flexibility for exploring the link of the ideals of human rights law with elements of the legal system as research variables. This research is a literature study on the importance and use of empirical quantitative research methods through the establishment of a path model called Regulatory Status Analysis. The model positions legal ideals (justice, certainty, and expediency) as an independent variable; while the two elements of the legal system: substantive law and legal structure, are mediating variables. Based on the trial run, the path model can picture the relationship between ideal law and legal culture as the dependent variable in the form of public awareness to comply with legal norms that protect human rights. Substantive law also has a positive influence on awareness to obey the law. However, the legal structure has no influence, either directly or indirectly. It might be because respondents consider law enforcement against human rights violations less than optimal. The test result determines what kind of human rights legal system should be developed for national and global legal scholarship

The Regulatory Status Analysis for Updating the Public Legal Awareness on Human Rights in Indonesia

In this study, it is argued that quantitative empirical legal research can support understanding public legal awareness of the implementation of human rights protection in Indonesia. The public legal awareness is analyzed using the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling to provide flexibility for exploring the link of the ideals of human rights law with elements of the legal system as research variables. This research is a literature study on the importance and use of empirical quantitative research methods through the establishment of a path model called Regulatory Status Analysis. The model positions legal ideals (justice, certainty, and expediency) as an independent variable; while the two elements of the legal system: substantive law and legal structure, are mediating variables. Based on the trial run, the path model can picture the relationship between ideal law and legal culture as the dependent variable in the form of public awareness to comply with legal norms that protect human rights. Substantive law also has a positive influence on awareness to obey the law. However, the legal structure has no influence, either directly or indirectly. It might be because respondents consider law enforcement against human rights violations less than optimal. The test result determines what kind of human rights legal system should be developed for national and global legal scholarship