Regional Data

Spatiality is an increasingly important dimension in the social sciences, as a new wave of recent publications shows. Intra-national comparisons have proved to be as fruitful as the better known inter-national analysis. Regional characteristics are found to have considerable influence on individual behaviour. This movement was fostered by methodological advances, e.g. in multi-level techniques. On the data side spatial analysis is supported by a good basic infrastructure in official and semi-official information, often provided in the way of easily usable DVDs. In addition, both scientific researchers and commercial marketing firms collect valuable information, partly on a very detailed local level of only a handful of households. However, there is ample room for improvement. Huge existing datasets (e.g. PISA E) are not open for spatial oriented scientific purposes; in many cases regional information is not sufficiently available (e.g. on criminal behaviour); systematic over-sampling in sparsely inhabited areas to allow additional regional analysis is not very common.

Modifying the Rebound: It Depends!: Explaining Mobility Behaviour on the Basis of the German Socio-Economic Panel

We address the empirical question to which extent higher fuel efficiency of cars affects additional travel and how this behavioural aspect is modified by additional variables. The data set used to estimate a theoretical model of the rebound effect covers two panel waves, 1998 and 2003, taken from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). To take full advantage of the information in the data available, and to avoid problems due to possible selection effects, we estimated an unbalanced two-wave random effects panel model. Our results suggest that in line with the rebound hypothesis, there is a negative effect of car efficiency on the kilometers driven. That is, the lower the fuel consumption, the larger the driven distance. However, contrasting recent empirical literature about the rebound effect in the transportation sector, this seems to be true only for cars with a consumption of more than roughly eight liters per hundred kilometers. In addition, we find a positive diesel effect, which implies that owning a diesel engined car, has a positive effect on the driven distance. Both effects can be interpreted as support for the rebound hypothesis, although not in a simple linear way. Moreover, it can be shown that some "soft" variables such as certain attitudes towards the environment tend to amplify this non-linear rebound effect. Our results support the general direction of the rebound effect on households travel activities. But because of the remaining political relevance of the rebound effect, they also highlight the importance of accounting for additional behavioural variables which tend to influence individual mobility behaviour. Hence, the classical interpretation of the rebound as a linear effect of advances in fuel economy on individual travel has to be questioned.energy demand, rebound effect, panel data analysis

Regional Data

Spatiality is an increasingly important dimension in the social sciences, as a new wave of recent publications shows. Intra-national comparisons have proved to be as fruitful as the better known inter-national analysis. Regional characteristics are found to have considerable influence on individual behaviour. This movement was fostered by methodological advances, e.g. in multi-level techniques. On the data side spatial analysis is supported by a good basic infrastructure in official and semiofficial information, often provided in the way of easily usable DVDs. In addition, both scientific researchers and commercial marketing firms collect valuable information, partly on a very detailed local level of only a handful of households.However, there is ample room for improvement. Huge existing datasets (e.g. PISA E) are not open for spatial oriented scientific purposes; in many cases regional information is not sufficiently available (e.g. on criminal behaviour); systematic over-sampling in sparsely inhabited areas to allow additional regional analysis is not very common. [author's abstract

Soziales Kapital in Organisationen: eine tauschtheoretische Studie

"Noch vor einer Generation war der Begriff der Organisation gleichbedeutend mit Statik, Verläßlichkeit, Hierarchie und disziplinierter Produktivität. Die neuen Leitbegriffe der Managementpraxis lauten dagegen Dynamik, Flexibilität, Team und emanzipierte Interaktivität. 'Netzwerk' lautet die Parole der Organisationstheorie, die das neue Leitbild des Organisierens erfassen soll. Hier wird vorgeschlagen, Netzwerke als soziales Kapital der Individuen wie der Organisation zu interpretieren. Theoretisch und empirisch werden Kommunikationsnetze gleichgestellter Organisationsmitglieder analysiert. Die lateralen Kommunikationsbeziehungen interessieren als exemplarisches Erkenntnisobjekt zur Erprobung einer bestimmten thematischen Sichtweise - der sozio-ökonomischen Tauschtheorie - in Verbindung mit einem spezifischen methodischen Instrument - der sozialen Netzwerkanalyse." (Autorenreferat

Vom Rechenzwerg zur Kommunikationsmaschine: eine Gebrauchsanleitung für das Internet

In dem Beitrag wird die Bedeutung des Computers als weltweites Kommunikationsinstrument für den Sozialwissenschaftler aufgezeigt. Dies geschieht am Beispiel von Internet, das eine Vielzahl von Teilnetzen verbindet und Übergänge zu anderen wichtigen Computernetzen hat. Nach einer kurzen Erläuterung der technischen Funktion von Internet werden einige für Sozialwissenschaftler interessante Dienste (interaktiver Zugang, Dateitransfer, elektronische Post, Diskussionsforen und integrierte Systeme) vorgestellt. (ICA

ANALISIS OPINI BADAN PEMERIKSA KEUANGAN REPUBLIK INDONESIA ATAS LAPORAN KEUANGAN PEMERINTAH DAERAH SE-ACEH TAHUN ANGGARAN 2009 S.D. 2014

Laporan hasil pemeriksaan BPK selama tahun 2009 s.d. 2014 menunjukkan masih banyak Laporan Keuangan Pemerintah Daerah (LKPD) se-Aceh yang belum memperoleh opini WTP dan rendahnya tingkat penyelesaian tindak lanjut atas rekomendasi BPK. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui faktor-faktor yang menjadi penyebab pengecualian dalam opini WDP, TW, dan TMP dan bagaimana tindak lanjut pemerintah daerah atas rekomendasi hasil pemeriksaan BPK. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian kualitatif yang bersifat deskriptif dengan sumber data primer dan data sekunder. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan dokumentasi, observasi, dan wawancara. Analisa data dilakukan dengan mentranskrip data lalu di-organize untuk menentukan temanya. Tema-tema yang sudah terkumpul dicari keterkaitannya dan dinterpretasikan dengan menggunakan teori yang relevan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pengecualian dalam opini atas LKPD se-Aceh disebabkan beberapa faktor yaitu kelemahan prosedur pencatatan; kelemahan pengelolaan kas; kelemahan pengelolaan aset tetap; kelemahan pengelolaan pendapatan; kelemahan pengelolaan persediaan; kelemahan proses penganggaran; penyimpangan ketentuan tentang pengeluaran dan pertanggungjawaban belanja; dan kebijakan akuntansi yang belum lengkap. Selanjutnya, pengecualian yang tindak lanjutnya belum sesuai rekomendasi akan tetap menjadi pengecualian tahun berikutnya.Kata kunci: LKPD, Opini BPK, Pengecualian, Tindak Lanjut Rekomendasi BPKBanda Ace

Arbeitszeitwünsche, Arbeitslosigkeit und Arbeitszeitpolitik

Whereas preferences of consumers are a cornerstone of market economies, preferences of employees e.g. regarding the preferred amount of paid labour are mostly not. However, we find strong evidence that differences between aspired and actually worked weekly hours have a serious negative impact on all three dimensions of satisfaction considered: Life satisfaction, which in turn is strongly related to many dimensions of social life; satisfaction with work, which affects productivity directly and health satisfaction, which influences morbidity and mortality as shown by studies of the WHO. This paper investigates the gap between employees preferences and realities by means of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) data. Although restricted to Germany, our basic findings are much in accordance with European-wide research projects, especially by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The central analyzed question is: How many hours one would like to work, taking into account that earnings would change accordingly. A majority of German employees wanted a labor time reduction and only a small minority prefers an enlargement. By combining both effects, more than 2,4 million additional employees could have been statistically brought into work again. In addition, satisfaction would have been improved, consumerism somewhat mellowed. And, since mainly persons with children wanted to reduce their working hours, family life would have gained significantly. Der Beitrag untersucht auf Basis des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels 2004 die Arbeitszeitwünsche der abhängig Beschäftigten in Deutschland unter Berücksichtigung von damit einhergehenden Einkommensveränderungen. Es wird gezeigt, dass die in der arbeitsmarktpolitischen Diskussion häufig übersehenen Zeitpräferenzen der Arbeitnehmer und Arbeitnehmerinnen von hoher Relevanz für die Lebens-, Gesundheits- und Arbeitszufriedenheit sind. Fallen gewünschte und realisierte Arbeitszeit auseinander, sinkt die jeweilige Bereichszufriedenheit erheblich. Zufrieden mit ihrer Arbeitszeit ist ein gutes Viertel. Ihre bezahlten Wochenstunden erhöhen möchten weniger als ein Fünftel, vorwiegend teilbeschäftigte Männer in den neuen Bundesländern. Dagegen wollen mehr als die Hälfte der Befragten sie senken, und zwar Männer wie Frauen. Alle Wünsche zusammen genommen ergibt sich, wie auch schon in anderen Studien berichtet, ein rechnerisches Umverteilungsvolumen von über 2,4 Mill. Vollzeitstellen. Zur Erreichung einer besseren Präferenzumsetzung wird eine neue Einrichtung vorgeschlagen: Eine Arbeitszeitagentur. In institutioneller Analogie zur Zentralbank sollte sie unabhängig sein, mit der Zielvorgabe, mit Hilfe von Arbeitszeitpolitik Arbeitslosigkeit zu bekämpfen.Labour market, workings hours, unemployment, happiness, satisfaction

Persönlichkeit und Personalforschung. Vorstellung einer Kurzskala zur Messung der „Big Five”

In Human Resource Management research it is often necessary to consider personality traits. In this article we describe the adaptation of an English language short questionnaire to measure the “Big Five” personality traits. The questionnaire is validated with a student sample. We apply item, scale, and explorative factor analyses as well as confirmatory multitrait-multimethod analysis. The results show that the questionnaire enables an economic measurement of the “Big Five”, meets reliability standards, and appears to be valid