Network effects, cooperation and entrepreneurial innovation in China

The rapid rise of an innovative private manufacturing economy in China challenges standard economic explanations of growth, which typically assume the existence of well-defined formal institutions such as property rights and company laws safeguarding investor and creditor interests. We highlight the social structure of cooperation that enables innovative activity in private manufacturing firms when formal property rights protection remains weak. We show how network effects linked to inter-firm cooperation in industrial clusters allowed private entrepreneurs to quickly develop reliable business norms to reduce the inherent risk of malfeasance and contract breach in formal and informal collaborative efforts. Survey data from a sample of 700 manufacturing firms located in China’s Yangzi Delta region confirms that both formal and informal types of inter-firm collaboration are effective, though in different areas of innovative activity

The influence of institutional factors on corporate narratives: a thematic content analysis of Guinness

This paper provides a thematic content analysis of the Chairman’s Statement of Arthur Guinness & Son Ltd over time. The analysis traces the evolution of the content over four distinct periods using a coding scheme developed from extant research. The objective is to study whether the corporate narratives change in line with the institutional factors over time. To interpret the results, we draw on an institutional theory-based lens to offer potential explanations of some of the change and stability noted. Institutions can constrain behaviour, but they can also support and empower agents to bring about change. The results of the longitudinal content analysis reveals some variations over time, but in general the content is relatively stable. This may be explained by the organisation itself being an institution that is sufficiently institutionalised so that corporate reporting remained relatively stable. This suggests Guinness may be an example of a strong institution over time. "The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Accounting History, 2020, 25(3), 425-447, published by SAGE Publishing. Available online: https://doi.org/10.1177/1032373219881811. DOI: 10.1177/1032373219881811. Please cite the published version.

Exploring CRM effectiveness: an institutional theory perspective

This study identifies the potential contribution that institutional theory can make to understanding the success of marketing practices. Based on institutional theory, we argue that the effectiveness of marketing practices decreases when firms are motivated to adopt such practices under the influence of institutional pressures originating in firms' environments. However, alignment between a practice and a firm's marketing strategy may buffer against these negative effects. We apply these insights to the case of customer relationship management (CRM). CRM is considered an important way to enhance customer loyalty and firm performance, but it has also been criticized for being expensive and for not living up to expectations. Empirical data from 107 organizations confirm that, in general, adopting CRM for mimetic motives is likely to result in fewer customer insights as a result of using this practice. Our study suggests that institutional theory has much to offer to the investigation of the effectiveness of marketing practices

Cloud Computing As a Tool for Enhancing Ecological Goals?

Cloud computing has been introduced as a promising information technology (IT) that embodies not only economic advantages in terms of increased efficiency but also ecological gains through saving energy. The latter has become particularly important in view of the rising energy costs of IT. The present study analyzes whether necessary preconditions for accepting cloud computing as a new infrastructure, such as awareness and perceived net value, exist on the part of the users. The analysis is based on a combined research framework of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) in a cloud computing setting. Two consumer surveys, the one to elicit beliefs and the second to gain insight into the ranking of the variables, are employed. This study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate the hypotheses. The results indicate support for the proposed research framework. Surprisingly however, the ecological factor does not play a role in forming cloud computing intentions, regardless of prior knowledge or experience. Empirical evidence of this study suggests increasing efforts for informing actual and potential users, particularly in respect to possible ecological advantages through applying the new IT infrastructure

Non-affirmative Theory of Education as a Foundation for Curriculum Studies, Didaktik and Educational Leadership

This chapter presents non-affirmative theory of education as the foundation for a new research program in education, allowing us to bridge educational leadership, curriculum studies and Didaktik. We demonstrate the strengths of this framework by analyzing literature from educational leadership and curriculum theory/didaktik. In contrast to both socialization-oriented explanations locating curriculum and leadership within existing society, and transformation-oriented models viewing education as revolutionary or super-ordinate to society, non-affirmative theory explains the relation between education and politics, economy and culture, respectively, as non-hierarchical. Here critical deliberation and discursive practices mediate between politics, culture, economy and education, driven by individual agency in historically developed cultural and societal institutions. While transformative and socialization models typically result in instrumental notions of leadership and teaching, non-affirmative education theory, previously developed within German and Nordic education, instead views leadership and teaching as relational and hermeneutic, drawing on ontological core concepts of modern education: recognition; summoning to self-activity and Bildsamkeit. Understanding educational leadership, school development and teaching then requires a comparative multi-level approach informed by discursive institutionalism and organization theory, in addition to theorizing leadership and teaching as cultural-historical and critical-hermeneutic activity. Globalisation and contemporary challenges to deliberative democracy also call for rethinking modern nation-state based theorizing of education in a cosmopolitan light. Non-affirmative education theory allows us to understand and promote recognition based democratic citizenship (political, economical and cultural) that respects cultural, ethical and epistemological variations in a globopolitan era. We hope an American-European-Asian comparative dialogue is enhanced by theorizing education with a non-affirmative approach

How to Construct an Organizational Field: Empirical Educational Research in Germany, 1995–2015

Over the past two decades, educational research in Germany has undergone unprecedented changes. Following large-scale assessments such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and a political interest in evidence-based policy-making, quality assessment and internationalization, direct involvement of national decision-makers has led to the establishment of new organizations, programs, funding structures, professorships, and training programs. Thus, a markedly different educational research field has emerged in contrast to the traditional philosophy-rooted, hermeneutics-trained and humanities-based German pedagogy or education science. Instead, the new paradigm refers to itself as "empirical educational research" (EER). Thus, we trace institutionalization processes of EER from early 1995 through the foundation of the Empirical Educational Research Association (GEBF), which rivals the long-standing German Educational Research Association (DGfE). Official documents shed light on policymakers’ and funding agencies’ motivations and rationales as they successfully engage in building new research infrastructure. Expert interviews conducted with (inter)national representatives illuminate perceptions of crucial actors involved in field institutionalization. What are the causes and consequences of the emergent educational research in Germany? Extending the neo-institutionalist organizational field literature, particularly about incipient stages of such fields, we show that a new division of labor transcends national and international as well as governmental and non-governmental borders