Value orientation, left-right placement and voting

In this article we try to disentangle the constraints between traditional lines of political polarization (left-right placement) and newer distinctions (materialist/postmaterialist values) among mass publics. It is shown that voting or party preference is most clearly related to the left-right placement of the respondents. However, this placement is directly and strongly dependent on the materialist/postmaterialist orientation, while background variables like education, income and age are linked to voting via this value orientation. The materialist/postmaterialist orientation appears to be the present-day interpretation of the dominant political conflict in advanced industrial society. Although alignments and orientations count for a substantive part of the variance in voting, the power of these models to predict the actual vote of people turns out to be rather poor

Forces and functions in scientific communication: an analysis of their interplay

This article deals with the transformation of the familiar, linear scientific information chain into an interactive scientific communication “network” in response to concomitant changes in scientific research and education. Societal conditions are seen to lead worldwide to the concept of strategic research: research dominated by "economy of scope". Strategic research leads to transnational research enterprises - universities and other research institutions - with a focus on return of research capital investment, and thus on intellectual capital. This development calls for new ways of knowledge management that in turn has consequences for scientific communication. The scientific communication market is described in terms of four main forces and their interplay. These forces are the actors (the author/reader pair), accessibility, content, and applicability. Scientific communication is described in terms of its four functions: registration, awareness, certification and archive. These forces and functions allow a structural analysis of the scientific communication market and allow to discuss aspects of structural continuity in e.g. describing the transformation from a paper-based system to communication in an electronic environment. The developments in research are seen to emphasise the already existing autonomous development of a "unified archive". Also these developments lead us to review certification policies to include elements external to research and to consider new structures for communication, and publications. The new structures are a result of the interactions in the market as described by the forces and the functions. The distinction between formal and informal communication is seen to become less useful. The need to review the structure and organisation of the market becomes evident, in particular if we consider communication during research as well. This leads us to speculate if elements of the virtual organisation are of relevance. Finally, the need for a coherent research programme on scientific communication is discussed

Validity of CVM related to the type of environmental good; an empirical test

This research explores the boundaries of a valid application of contingent valuation as a method to value environmental changes. Recent criticism from social psychologists refers to unrealistic cognitive demands upon respondents. Criticism from economists point to the problem of measuring preferences in relation to non-use values. In this research the hypothesis is tested that the CV method in valuing goods with non-use value and with a complex content of information produces less valid results than with use values and non-complex content of information. Validity is tested across goods (sample survey: N = 832). Results show that scope validity is ambiguous for goods with high content of complexity. Construct validity is not guaranteed for environmental changes with non-use values: Economic factors are not significant, only attitudes are relevant. Given the importance of WTP figures in cost-benefit analysis these results are of paramount importance for the trust in contingent valuation

Antecedents of perceived intra- and extra-organisational alternatives. The case of low-educated supermarket employees in Czech Republic, Poland and Slovak Republic

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore antecedents of perceived intra‐ and extra‐organisational alternatives among employees in the Czech Republic, Poland and the Slovak Republic. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 9,068 low‐educated supermarket employees at 360 supermarkets. LISREL analysis was employed. Findings: Age, job autonomy and organisation size predict both forms of perceived alternatives. Tenure appears to influence both forms of perceived alternatives positively. Job challenge and sex only predict perceived extra‐organisational alternatives. Unexpectedly, despite relatively high unemployment rates, the respondents perceive extra‐organisational alternatives. Research limitations/implications: Some of the antecedents of perceived alternatives identified in research among workers in Western societies seem to have a different or no impact on the perceived alternatives of employees in these countries. The study comprises only cross‐sectional data. In order to test causality a longitudinal design is needed. Practical implications: Managers should offer development and promotion opportunities in order to prevent turnover and to enhance internal flexibility as well as reflect on inducements for female and older workers. Originality/value: This is one of the few studies exploring employee perceptions in Central European transition countries. Moreover, in general, research on the perceived alternatives of low‐educated employees is very scarce. Therefore, this research also contributes to knowledge about their labour market perceptions

The relationship between partner diversity and innovation performance in multi-partner alliances:The moderating effect of power asymmetry

Research examining the inter-organizational differences conceptualized and operationalized variety in multi-partner alliances is usually based on the assumption of equal power. However, power differences exist in almost all alliances, especially in multi-partner alliances. As a result, little is known about the impact of power asymmetry as moderator variable on the relationship between variety and innovation in R&D alliances with multiple partners. Therefore, we investigate the moderation effect of power asymmetry on the relationship between variety and the innovation performance in multi-partner R&D alliances. To address this question, we use a database of 409 R&D alliances with multiple partners granted funding from the Netherlands Technology Foundation STW between 2000 and 2004. We found a mutual reinforcing effect of power asymmetry on the relationship between variety and innovation performance in multi-partner alliances. The innovation-related benefits associated with organizational and industry variety can encourage use of power to facilitate coordination in high power asymmetric relationships, and begin positive reinforcement loops. The coordination challenges associated with functional variety can encourage the opportunistic use of power in high power asymmetric, and initiate a negative spiraling effect. This implies that researchers should always consider power asymmetry to fully understand the effects of variety in multi-partner alliances