Foundational Economic Theories for Political-Scientific Inter-Branch Studies

Economic theories are increasingly popular in political science, and in particular in research on the relations between the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branches of government. Among these theories, principal-agent (´PA´) and transaction cost economics (´TCE´) feature particularly high in our research agenda. Yet, pushed by the view that "the content of ´science´ is primarily the methods and rules" (King et al. 1994: 9), and working with limited resources, political scientists have tended to neglect careful theorizing. PA and TCE are taken off-the-shelf without much prior scrutiny, and past conceptual mistakes are perpetuated. This paper aims at introducing and explaining the real PA, positive agency, TCE, and incomplete contracts theories for the purposes of political analysis. In a companion paper, I show the serious mistakes perpetuated by political scientists, and I argue that, faced with a choice between those four economic theories, we should place our bets on a revised version of TCE.Theory of delegation, political science, principal-agent models, transaction costs economics

Can game theory be saved?

Game-theoretic analysis is a well-established part of the toolkit of economic analysis. In crucial respects, however, game theory has failed to deliver on its original promise of generating sharp predictions of behavior in situations where neoclassical microeconomics has little to say. Experience has shown that in most situations, it is possible to tell a game-theoretic story to fit almost any possible outcome. We argue that, in general, any individually rational outcome of an economic interaction may be supported as the Nash equilibrium of an appropriately chosen game, and that a wide range of these outcomes will have an economically reasonable interpretation. We consider possible attempts to salvage the original objectives of the game-theoretic research program. In at least some cases, information on institutional structures and observations of interactions between agents can be used to limit the set of strategies that may be considered reasonable.game theory, equilibrium

The potential of public participation geographic information systems in UK environmental planning: Appraisals by active publics

The paper draws on an empirical study of two workshops in which the issues that arise from the use of geographic information systems (GIS) as a planning tool in public participation settings were explored by local residents who take an active interest in local planning matters in their London borough. The paper demonstrates how issues concerned with the democratization of GIS and public participation GIS (PPGIS) informed the structure and conduct of the workshops and the qualitative analysis of the workshop discussions. Key themes raised by participants included: the potential of PPGIS as a means of extending knowledge networks; issues of data ownership and the responsiveness of data providers to public concerns; and the role that institutional norms and practices play in democratizing information availability and the transparency of the decision-making process. The paper concludes that the potential of PPGIS as a planning tool cannot be separated from public concerns about the legitimacy of the planning process or local government

Information technology governance implementation in a South African public sector agency: institutional influences and outcomes

Thesis (M.Com. (Information Systems))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2015Information technology (IT) governance, which embodies how organisations arrange and manage their IT assets, continues to be of interest to those involved in the research and practice of information systems (IS). Most of the interest is because of the positive relationship between IT governance and organisational performance. Organisations are increasing their IT expenditure, which results in increased expectations by stakeholders. Public sector organisations have also gradually recognised the importance of IT governance to successful implementation of mandates, but the research conducted globally to understand how IT governance is actually implemented in the public sector has been limited. A case study of ENTDEV (a public sector agency) was used to explore how IT governance implementation takes in a public sector organisation. The case study sought to understand how institutional influences (e.g. regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive) play a role in IT governance adoption and the selection of IT governance mechanisms, how IT governance implementation actually takes place and what IT outcomes are achieved as a result of the implementation - using institutional theory, IT governance mechanisms framework, and the IT outcomes framework, as lenses. The case study identified regulatory influences as playing a role in IT governance adoption, and also uncovered the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) as important. Normative and culture cognitive influences were seen as not playing a role at the IT governance adoption stage. Regulatory and normative influences and the CIO have an influence in the implementation of IT governance mechanisms. The skills and capacity of people involved in implementing IT governance mechanisms, together with the positioning and organisation’s perception of IT are some of the issues that impact on IT governance implementation. The study recognised cost effective use of IT and improved compliance as the immediate IT outcomes as a result of IT governance implementation. Strategy enablement outcomes are recognised over time. Informed by the empirical evidence and literature, a framework for IT governance implementation in public sector organisations is conceptualised as a contribution to theory. It is envisaged that the framework may be used by public sector institutions to improve their understanding of IT governance and subsequently improve how they implement IT governance

Internet sales as a new mode of internationalization

The way that organizations explore the Internet has been the focus of a substantial body of scientific studies and non-academic reflection. The main goal of this study is to analyze the potential of the internet as a mode of internationalization and the factors that influence the results of the adoption of this mean to access foreign markets. For this purpose, we examine the determinants of the level of international sales made via internet estimating an ordered probit model. The results show that the importance of previous experience in using the internet and developing international activity, together with the level of internet marketing budget , the level of investment on internet sophistication, the firm dimension, the business age and the type pf activity are variables that determine the results obtain in the international sales trough the internet.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A framework for adoption decision process for blockchain technology - an institutional and actor-network theory perspective

Blockchain has been the most promising technology of the recent times. Originated from bitcoin, a blockchain technology use case has now been explored across almost every industry. It provides several novel technological features like transparency, disintermediation, immutability, trust among stakeholders and decentralisation. Despite so many advantages, the overview of challenges around blockchain adoption has revealed that there is a scarcity of understanding about the process of blockchain adoption decisions. Several organisations have failed to take advantage of blockchain's potential due to uneven adoption across industries and regions. Whether to use blockchain in their business is a difficult decision for many organisations. To fill this gap, this study examined the adoption decision process of blockchain in organisations. Firstly, there is a need of framework that details the steps in the blockchain adoption decision process, including tasks involved and the rationales for the actions taken. This understanding will help the potential adopters to make a successful decision to adopt blockchain technology for their organisation. Secondly, very few studies have examined the factors that influence the stakeholders’ interactions and dynamics while making technology adoption decisions, especially in blockchain based applications. When systems are designed to protect privacy or obscure actors intentionally, such as blockchain platforms, it can be challenging to identify them and understand their roles. Blockchain being an inter-organisational technology, primarily depends on the involvement of internal and external stakeholders. Thus, this study explored the actors involved in the adoption decision process and their roles while aligning other actors towards blockchain adoption. Thirdly, as these actors act as stakeholders while making decision, they act as rational individuals. Therefore, this study also explored their rationales while they are involved in technology adoption decisions to have an effective outcome of the decision-making process. To achieve these objectives, this study utilises Innovation Translation approach derived from Actor-Network Theory and Institutional Theory for technology adoption. The study has utilised a three- round qualitative Delphi method through semi structured interviews to gather views from a panel of experts from organisations who have experienced the blockchain adoption decision process for their business. The targeted experts for this study were categorized as Adopters, Non-Adopters (dropped the idea) and Consultants using selective purposive sampling. The first two rounds were exploratory in nature, and to extend the validity of the responses gathered, the final round was a confirmatory round of interviews. For this study, the saturation was seen with ten experts in the panel for round 2 and round 3. For the pilot study eight participants agreed to be part of the panel. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis in the NVivo tool. The analysis confirmed the use of Innovation Translation approach in literature for understanding the actors and their roles, by giving a rich interpretation of the results in understanding the crucial interactions among the actors and drawing useful findings. The interpretation also provided an insight into the institutionalisation of blockchain by exploring the institutional pressures. The study has confirmed the existence of many pressures that existed for other technologies, remain for blockchain adoption too like hype, curiosity, competitiveness, business value, cost and time but has explored new institutional pressures with blockchain adoption decision process like understanding among consultants and adopting organisations, and process participations needs. Utilising Institutional Theory for blockchain technology has also revealed a fourth pressure that is exerted by the technology itself like maturity, consensus, network dominancy and technological features that are primarily seen as blockchain being an inter-organisational and a new technology that has not been accepted widely in organisations. Achieving the objectives of this study, the study has proposed a consolidated framework for the blockchain adoption decision process from an exploratory view. The first of its kind in literature, that elaborates on the stages involved in blockchain adoption decision process, identify the actors and explains their role at each stage and how those roles evolve and also provides an insight into the institutionalisation of blockchain by exploring the pressures. These gaps, objectives, method, analysis, and contributions are further discussed in this thesis comprehensively.Doctor of Philosoph

Barriers to industrial energy efficiency: a literature review

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Information and Communication Technology Usage by SMEs in a Developing Country: An Environmental Perspective

The paper addresses organisational usage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) from a developing country perspective. Applying three dimensions of environmental pressures—coercive pressures, normative pressures and mimetic pressures—with the two fundamental antecedents of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)—perceived usefulness and ease of use—this study attempts to look at the effects of external forces on the adoption and use of ICT by SMEs in Bangladesh. PLS based path modelling with a cross-sectional dataset of 557 SMEs in Bangladesh reveals a significant association of normative pressures, coercive pressures, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use with SMEs intention to use ICT. The path analysis further demonstrates a strong and significant effect of intention on actual ICT usage behaviour. The study concludes with implications of the results