Big Data and Evidence-Driven Decision-Making: Analyzing the Practices of Large and Mid-Sized U.S. Cities

With the growing ease of collecting, transmitting, storing, processing, and analyzing massive amounts of data, Big Data has caught the attention of local officials in recent years. Based on a multi-layered institutional theories and an extensive analysis of the 30 largest cities and 35 selected mid-sized cities in the U.S, this study examines how U.S. cities are using mobile phone apps, sensors, data analytics, and open data portals to pursue Big Data opportunities, and what institutional factors influence their choices. The results show three distinct clusters of data practices among the selected 65 cities. Socio-demographics, cultural institutions, professional networks, and an internal data-driven culture as indicated by the use of performance budgeting are significantly associated with more extensive Big Data initiatives. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for Big Data practices and the theoretical development of e-government research

Citizen Engagement in the New Normal Fiscal Environment: Time for Participatory Performance Budgeting (PPB 2.0)?

Reports on relationship between budgeting and performance management, including focus on citizen engagemen

Managing outsourcing to develop business : goal interdependence for sharing effective business practices in China

This study proposes that when partners develop cooperative relationships with each other, rather than competitive or independent ones, they are open with their ideas and resources as they believe that they both will use this exchange for mutual benefit. The structural equation analysis of findings from 95 outsourcing partnerships in China supported the reasoning that cooperative goals foster open discussion of effective practices that in turn results in business development. Results were interpreted as providing support that cooperative interdependence is a foundation for effective interaction and learning between outsourcing partners in China and perhaps in other countries as well

Business confidence in government regulators: cooperative goals and confirmation of face in China

Purpose – This study aims to examine the conditions that help businesses develop confidence in their government regulators. Businesses are dependent upon governments and subject to their regulations. This study proposes that businesses and governments that confirm each other’s social face have the relationship that helps businesses become confident in their government regulators. It also uses the theory of cooperation and competition to identify when they confirm social face. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected in Shanghai, China, from government bodies and business organizations from diverse industries. One hundred forty-six pairs of government officials and business managers provided us data for our analysis. Findings – Structural equation analysis suggests that cooperative, but not competitive or independent, goals provide the foundation for mutual confirmation of social face that in turn results in business confidence that the government is competent, caring and regulates effectively. Practical implications – These findings were interpreted as reaffirming the value of relationships for collaboration between business and government and the usefulness of the concepts of social face and goal interdependence for understanding how to develop high-quality business–government relationships in China. Originality/value – This study directly investigates social face among Chinese people and explores its impact on inter-organizational government–business relationships. This study uses social face and goal interdependence to understand when business and regulators develop relationships that promote effective regulation

Factors Promoting the Collection of Performance Measurement: Evidence from US Local Governments

Performance measurement has gained significant importance around the world. Many governments are adopting performance measurement as a part of reform efforts. Despite the widespread practitioner attention, academic studies are inconclusive about the impact of performance measurement in the public sector. Moreover, while studies have examined what factors influence the adoption of performance measures and its impact, they have paid relatively less attention to the use of different types of performance measures. To fill this gap, this study examines: (1) what types of performance measures are collected by US local governments and; (2) how organizational, technical, and external factors influence the collection of performance measurement. Leveraging survey data, we conduct cluster analysis and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to study factors that impact the collection of performance measures. The findings of QCA highlight that no single condition dominates the collection of performance measurement, rather different combinations of organizational and external factors influence the outcome. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for local policymakers and managers

Taking Stock: Assessing and Improving Performance Budgeting Theory and Practice

This is the author's final draft. Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis.Since the passing of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, the past 20 years represent one of the most remarkable eras for performance budgeting initiatives in the United States. As a result, many studies about this tool have also been conducted and published. Based on a systematic review of articles on performance budgeting-related research in major journals in the ten years between 2002 and 2011, this study assesses how performance budgeting research has evolved over time, reviews its accomplishments, and suggests a few directions for future studies, such as the need to control for different intervening factors to establish causality, the need for more coherent theoretical frameworks to guide empirical work and structure the relationship between causal factors, and the need for methodological diversity. We also present a few long-standing questions of performance budgeting that future studies may revisit carefully

Citizen Engagement Strategies

poster abstractThe project studied citizen engagement strategies, including Web 2.0 tools and traditional meetings, and provided recommendations to the City of Indianapolis. Citizen surveys, field observations, and best practice research of other US cities were conducted by 4 student interns from SPEA, Herron, and Journalism

TQM in the construction industry in Hong Kong : a supply chain management perspective

TQM is increasingly being adopted by construction companies as initiatives to solve quality problems in the construction industry and to meet the needs of the final customer. However, TQM should incorporate the integrated quality management activities of members in the supply chain. This supply chain context is especially salient in the qua1ity assurance of construction projects as a general contractor often out-sources most of the construction work to other members in the supply chain i.e. its suppliers and subcontractors. Therefore, this paper aims to delineate the supply chain management issues in total quality for construction projects. Through the use of an in-depth case study on the TQM system of a leading construction company in Hong Kong, the strategy, structure and tasks for managing supplier/subcontractor relationships are examined. The study concludes with identification of some supply chain management issues in the construction industry, as well as future research topics in integrating supply chain management with total quality management

Signature of a polyamorphic transition in the THz spectrum of vitreous GeO2

The THz spectrum of density fluctuations, $S(Q, \omega)$, of vitreous GeO$_2$ at ambient temperature was measured by inelastic x-ray scattering from ambient pressure up to pressures well beyond that of the known $\alpha$-quartz to rutile polyamorphic (PA) transition. We observe significant differences in the spectral shape measured below and above the PA transition, in particular, in the 30-80 meV range. Guided by first-principle lattice dynamics calculations, we interpret the changes in the phonon dispersion as the evolution from a quartz-like to a rutile-like coordination. Notably, such a crossover is accompanied by a cusp-like behavior in the pressure dependence of the elastic response of the system. Overall, the presented results highlight the complex fingerprint of PA phenomena on the high-frequency phonon dispersion.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure