Performance gaming: a systematic review of the literature in public administration and other disciplines with directions for future research

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 497-517
Author(s):  
Shawn L. Benaine

PurposeThrough comparative analysis with other social science disciplines, gaps are identified in the performance gaming literature of public administration as it compares to other social science disciplines in order to understand directions for future research in this space.Design/methodology/approachThis study involves a systematic review of the performance gaming literature, focusing on important drivers of performance gaming. Using Google Scholar, Web of Science, and ProQuest Central, the systematic review covers years ranging from 1990 through 2019 and revealed empirical studies that were deemed relevant based on whether an article was (1) an empirical study and (2) performance gaming or cheating behavior was the outcome variable. Out of the 81 articles surmised from the search, 51 were regarded as relevant by meeting these criteria.FindingsThe main finding is that public administration has primarily focused on drivers that are embedded in the performance system. The other social sciences (psychology and economics, in particular) focus mainly on individual factors, mostly cognitive in nature. Public administration has also looked at organizational drivers, though this is a burgeoning area. Scholars in public administration may benefit from the other social sciences by determining how individual drivers work within the context of public organizations and how these shape organizational behavior.Originality/valuePer my knowledge, the paper is the first to systematically compare the performance gaming literature of public administration to other social science disciplines. The paper provides a direction for this burgeoning area of research.

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Al-Aufi ◽  
Crystal Fulton

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the extent to which social networking tools had an impact on academics’ patterns of informal scholarly communication in humanities and social science disciplines. Social networking tools, reinforced by proliferation and advances in portable computing and wireless technologies, have reshaped how information is produced, communicated and consumed. Design/methodology/approach – A cross-institutional quantitative study utilized an online questionnaire survey sent to 382 academics affiliated with humanities and social science disciplines in two different academic institutions: one that belongs to a Western tradition of scholarly communication in Ireland, and the other to a developing country in Oman. Descriptive interpretation of data compared findings from both universities. Frequencies, percentages and means were displayed in tables to enhance the meaning of collected data. Inferential analysis was also conducted to determine statistical significance. Findings – Overall findings indicate progressive use of social networking tools for informal scholarly communication. There is perceived usefulness on the impact of social networking tools on patterns of informal scholarly communication. However, nearly one-third of the respondents have never used social networking tools for informal scholarly communication. Institution-based data comparison revealed no significant differences on data except for few activities of informal scholarly communication. Research limitations/implications – Given that the number of study subjects was eventually small (total = 382) and that academics by their very nature are disinclined to respond to online surveys, results of the study may suggest non-response errors, and these may impact negatively on the acceptability of inferences and statistical conclusions. The results of the study are, therefore, unlikely to be useful for generalization, but they remain suggestive of a growing tendency among humanities and social sciences’ academics to use social networking tools for informal scholarly communication. Originality/value – Empirical findings provide a broad understanding about the potential of social networking tools on informal scholarly communication in areas of humanities and social sciences disciplines. Multi-disciplinary investigation and qualitative studies may further deepen our understanding of the impact of social networking tools on patterns of scholarly communication.


Author(s):  
Patrick Köllner ◽  
Rudra Sil ◽  
Ariel I. Ahram

Two convictions lie at the heart of this volume. First, area studies scholarship remains indispensable for the social sciences, both as a means to expand our fount of observations and as a source of theoretical ideas. Second, this scholarship risks becoming marginalized without more efforts to demonstrate its broader relevance and utility. Comparative Area Studies (CAS) is one such effort, seeking to balance attention to regional and local contextual attributes with use of the comparative method in search of portable causal links and mechanisms. CAS engages scholarly discourse in relevant area studies communities while employing concepts intelligible to social science disciplines. In practice, CAS encourages a distinctive style of small-N analysis, cross-regional contextualized comparison. As the contributions to this volume show, this approach does not subsume or replace area studies scholarship but creates new pathways to “middle range” theoretical arguments of interest to both area studies and the social sciences.


Author(s):  
Lucy T.B. Rattrie ◽  
Markus G. Kittler

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a synthesis and evaluation of literature surrounding the job demands-resources (JD-R) model (Demerouti et al., 2001) in the first decade since its inception, with particular emphasis on establishing an evidence-based universal application towards different national and international work contexts. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a systematic review approach following the stages suggested by Tranfield et al. (2003). Based on empirical data from 62 studies, the authors systematically analyse the application of the JD-R model and queries whether it is applicable outside merely domestic work contexts. Findings – The authors find convincing support for the JD-R model in different national contexts. However, the authors also found an absence of studies employing the JD-R model in cross-national settings. None of the empirical studies in the sample had explicitly considered the international context of today’s work environment or had clearly associated JD-R research with the IHRM literature. Research limitations/implications – Based on the wide acceptance of the JD-R model in domestic work contexts and the increased interest in work-related outcomes such as burnout and engagement in the IHRM literature, the study identifies a gap and suggests future research applying the JD-R model to international work and global mobility contexts. Originality/value – This study is the first to systematically assess the application of the JD-R model in domestic and international work contexts based on a systematic review of empirical literature in the first decade since the inception of the model. The study identifies a lack of internationally focussed JD-R studies and invites further empirical research and theoretical extensions.


1988 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Nicholson

The Economic and Social Research Council recently published a Report commissioned from a committee chaired by Professor Edwards, a psychiatrist, so that the Council, and the social science community in general, might know what was good and bad in British social sciences, and where the promising future research opportunities lie over the next decade. Boldly called ‘Horizons and Opportunities in the Social Sciences’, the Report condensed the wisdom of social scientists, both British and foreign, and concludes with a broadly but not uncritically favourable picture of the British scene.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Saha ◽  
Praveen Goyal ◽  
Charles Jebarajakirthy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic review of the available literature on value co-creation (VCC) and provide insightful future directions for research in this domain. Design/methodology/approach The extant literature on VCC has been reviewed by collecting relevant research papers based on certain specified delimiting criteria. A total of 110 research papers have been analysed to gain useful insights into VCC literature. Findings The study analyses the literature on VCC and provides a clear distinction between VCC and its closely related constructs in the literature. The study also draws significant insights from the VCC literature based on some specific parameters. Some frequently used theoretical perspectives have been discussed in the study, thus pointing towards a few alternative theories that can be used for future research. Finally, specific trends emerging from the literature have been discussed that provide a comprehensive understanding of the research inclinations of this concept, along with future scopes of research in the VCC domain. Research limitations/implications The papers were selected for this study based on some delimiting criteria. Thus, the findings cannot be generalised for the entire research on VCC. Originality/value This paper fulfils the need for a systematic review of the extant literature on VCC. The study synthesises literature and bibliography on VCC from 2004 to 2019 to benefit both academics and practitioners and gives some directions to advance this domain of literature.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 529-546
Author(s):  
Christofer Laurell ◽  
Sten Soderman

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of articles on sport published in leading business studies journals within marketing, organisational studies and strategy.Design/methodology/approachBased on a review of 38 identified articles within the subfields of marketing, strategy and organisation studies published between 2000 and 2015, the articles’ topical, theoretical and methodological orientation within the studied subfields were analysed followed by a cross-subfield analysis.FindingsThe authors identify considerable differences in topical, theoretical and methodological orientation among the studied subfields’ associated articles. Overall, the authors also find that articles across all subfields tend to be focussed on contributing to mature theory, even though the subfield of marketing in particular exhibits contributions to nascent theory in contrast to organisation studies and strategy.Originality/valueThis paper contributes by illustrating the current state of research that is devoted or related to the phenomenon of sport within three subfields in business studies. Furthermore, the authors discuss the role played by leading business studies journalsvis-à-vissport sector-specific journals and offer avenues for future research.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabiane Florencio de Souza ◽  
Alana Corsi ◽  
Regina Negri Pagani ◽  
Giles Balbinotti ◽  
João Luiz Kovaleski

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to explore the new concept of TQM 4.0 as a way of adapting quality management (QM) in Industry 4.0 (I4.0), guiding industries to this new phase, which has generated adaptations in numerous areas, one of which is QM and human resources.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review of the literature was carried out. Methodi Ordinatio was applied to build the portfolio of articles with scientific relevance, which is the source of data collections and content analysis. To help out in the analysis, NVivo 12 and VOSviewer software programs were used.FindingsThe results demonstrate that when adapting the QM to the technologies of I4.0, the result is an ecosystem that supports the integration between technology, quality and people in the industrial scenario.Research limitations/implicationsThis article presents a systematic review of the literature, but without delving into specific issues such as the different industrial sectors and the culture of countries in which industries may be inserted, for example, which characterizes a limitation of this research.Practical implicationsThis study provides an ecosystem model that can guide future research, regarding the concept of TQM 4.0, in addition to pointing out some ways of combining technologies, quality and people in the industrial context.Originality/valueThis is one of the first articles to employ a systematic review of the literature using Methodi Ordinatio to build a bibliographic panorama on the intertwining of the themes total QM (TQM) and I4.0, focusing on the emerging concept of TQM 4.0.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunsoo Lee ◽  
Jae Young Lee ◽  
Jin Lee

Purpose The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between two sub-constructs of heavy work investment: work engagement and workaholism. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to synthesize and critically assess existing research on the relationship between these concepts. Findings The review revealed three major shortcomings of the extant literature: a dichotomous perspective, variations in measurements and the unaddressed complexity of the relationship. Originality/value Based on these findings, this study provides a discussion on the limitations and suggestions for future research on work engagement and workaholism, including using a person-centered approach.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Lill ◽  
Andreas Wald ◽  
Jan Christoph Munck

PurposeThe number of theoretical and empirical research on management control of innovation activities has significantly increased. Existing studies in this field are characterized by a wide dispersion and a multitude of different definitions. The purpose of this article is to provide a systematic review of the literature on management control of innovation activities and to synthesize the current body of knowledge.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a systematic review approach, this article reviews 79 articles on management control for innovation activities from 1959 to 2019 and inductively derives a multi-dimensional framework.FindingsThe review of existing studies advances the debate about the detrimental versus beneficial character of management control systems for innovation, showing that the repressing character of control is not inherent to control itself, but emanates from the design of the respective management control system.Research limitations/implicationsThe multi-dimensional framework connects and combines existing research and thus synthesizes the current state of knowledge in this field. Additionally, the framework can guide practitioners to systematically assess context factors and consequences of their management control systems design, and it shows avenues for future research.Originality/valueThe scientific and practical value of this paper is the convergence of the current body of knowledge consisting of various definitions and conceptualizations and the identification of avenues for future research.


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