scholarly journals Establishing the Regional Sustainable Developmental Role of Universities—From the Multilevel-Perspective (MLP) and Beyond

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 6987
Author(s):  
Verena Radinger-Peer ◽  
Gesa Pflitsch ◽  
Helga Kanning ◽  
Daniel Schiller

This article establishes the multilevel perspective (MLP) as one of the main research approaches in transition research to study complex systemic change processes in socio-technical systems at different structural levels. The application of the MLP to the higher education system, especially to conceptualize the transition of universities towards a sustainable (regional) developmental role, is still in its infancy. Through using a descriptive narrative analysis of seminal articles, the results of the four-years cooperation within an expert working group, and own empirical findings, the present paper investigates the suitability of the MLP to study the transition of universities and university systems towards a sustainable developmental role in the regional context. Based on these investigations, three further perspectives (which must be considered for establishing a more comprehensive understanding of the universities’ sustainable developmental role) are identified and conceptualized: (a) The target dimension of sustainable regional development, (b) the role of agency, and (c) the introduction of space and place to multiscalar regional transitions. Based on these perspectives, a future research agenda beyond the MLP is developed.

Author(s):  
Juliann Emmons Allison ◽  
Srinivas Parinandi

This chapter examines the development and politics of US energy policy, with an emphasis on three themes: the distribution of authority to regulate energy between national (or federal) and subnational governments, the relationship between energy and environmental policy and regulation, and the role of climate action in energy politics. It reviews patterns of energy production and consumption; provides an overview of national energy politics; and reviews literatures on federalism and energy politics and policy, the increasing integration of energy and environmental policies, and the politics of energy and climate action. The chapter concludes with a discussion of a future research agenda that underscores the significance of political polarization, subnational governance, and technological innovation for understanding US energy policy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2566
Author(s):  
Isabel Marques ◽  
João Leitão ◽  
Alba Carvalho ◽  
Dina Pereira

Values guide actions and judgements, form the basis of attitudinal and behavioral processes, and have an impact on leaders’ decision-making, contributing to more sustainable performance. Through a bibliometric study and content analysis, 2038 articles were selected from Scopus, from the period 1994–2021, presenting global research tendencies on the subject of values, public administration, and sustainability. The results indicate that Sustainability is the most productive journal, the main research category is in social sciences, the most productive institution is the University of Queensland, the location with the most publications and research collaborations is the USA, and the authors with the greatest number of articles are Chung, from Chung-Ang University; García-Sánchez, from the University of Salamanca; and Pérez, from the University of Cantabria. Analysis of keywords shows that the most relevant are “sustainability”, “CSR”, “sustainable development”, “innovation”, and “leadership”. Time analysis of keywords reveals a tendency for lines of research in the social and work area. The results also provide data about the framing of studies in sustainability pillars and the types of values referred to and indicate the main areas of public administration studied. Finally, a future research agenda is proposed.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sourabh Kumar ◽  
Sankersan Sarkar ◽  
Bhawna Chahar

Purpose The growing demands of work and life have shifted the concept of work-life balance to work-life integration (WLI). The success of integration depends upon the flexibility to perform the duties. This paper aims to explore the factors that affect WLI and the role of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) in the process of WLI. Design/methodology/approach Systematic literature review was used to explore the concept of WLI and FWAs. A bibliometric analysis was carried out with Bibexcel and VoSviewer. Findings This paper explained the organizational and personal factors that create the demand for WLI. The FWAs, perceived flexibility, technology and self-efficacy have important roles in WLI. The result of WLI can be enrichment or strain, depends upon how effectively the work-life domains are integrated. Originality/value This paper explores the work-life from both personal and organizational views. The findings of this paper will be useful to design the organizational policies and work arrangements that match the requirements of employees and organizations. This paper helps to develop the future research agenda of investigating the relations of WLI to performance, organizational policies and personal factors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanchayan Banerjee ◽  
Manu Savani ◽  
Ganga Shreedhar

This article reviews the literature on public support for ‘soft’ versus ‘hard’ policy instruments for behaviour change, and the factors that drive such preferences. Soft policies typically include ‘moral suasion’ and educational campaigns, and more recently behavioural public policy approaches like nudges. Hard policy instruments, such as laws and taxes, restrict choices and alter financial incentives. In contrast to the public support evidenced for hard policy instruments during COVID-19, prior academic literature pointed to support for softer policy instruments. We investigate and synthesise the evidence on when people prefer one type of policy instrument over another. Drawing on multi-disciplinary evidence, we identify perceived effectiveness, trust, personal experience and self-interest as important determinants of policy instrument preferences, along with broader factors including the choice and country context. We further identify various gaps in our understanding that informs and organise a future research agenda around three themes. Specifically, we propose new directions for research on what drives public support for hard versus soft behavioural public policies, highlighting the value of investigating the role of individual versus contextual factors (especially the role of behavioural biases); how preferences evolve over time; and whether and how preferences spillovers across different policy domains.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 74-102
Author(s):  
Anna Berti Suman ◽  
◽  
Sven Schade ◽  
Yasuhito Abe ◽  
◽  
...  

In this article, we investigate how citizens use data they gather as a rhetorical resource for demanding environmental policy interventions and advancing environmental justice claims. While producing citizen-generated data (CGD) can be regarded as a form of ‘social protest’, citizens and interested institutional actors still have to ‘justify’ the role of lay people in producing data on environmental issues. Such actors adopt a variety of arguments to persuade public authorities to recognize CGD as a legitimate resource for policy making and regulation. So far, scant attention has been devoted to inspecting the different legitimization strategies adopted to push for institutional use of CGD. In order to fill this knowledge gap, we examine which distinctive strategies are adopted by interested actors: existing legitimization arguments are clustered, and strategies are outlined, based on a literature review and exemplary cases. We explore the conceivable effects of these strategies on targeted policy uses. Two threads emerge from the research, entailing two complementary arguments: namely that listening to CGD is a governmental obligation and that including CGD is ultimately beneficial for making environmental decisions. We conclude that the most used strategies include showing the scientific strength and contributory potential of CGD, whereas environmental rights and democracy-based strategies are still rare. We discuss why we consider this result to be problematic and outline a future research agenda.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 417-427
Author(s):  
Stefania Mariano ◽  
Andrea Casey ◽  
Fernando Oliveira

Purpose The purpose of this two-part paper is to provide a summary of current research opportunities in organizational forgetting literature and a future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach The summary of current research opportunities and future research agenda is drawn from the systematic literature review and synthesis reported in Part I. Findings Two broad areas for future research are proposed: A first area that highlights a need to address integrative theoretical challenges that include issues of temporality, history, power dynamics, and organizational context. A second area that highlights a need to reconcile contradicting explanations – such as whether technological sophistication and codification practices versus social networks prevent knowledge depreciation and loss – through a multilevel perspective. Research limitations/implications Limitations relate to time span coverage and journal article accessibility. Originality/value This Part II paper provides a summary of current research opportunities and offers directions for future research on organizational forgetting.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parul Gupta ◽  
Urvashi Gupta ◽  
Simran Wadhwa

Last decades showed a high interest in studying the workplace bullying (WB) phenomenon in a variety of disciplines and in a number of WB areas such as concepts and forms of WB, antecedents and consequences of WB, WB interventions, etc. This study offers classification and description of current WB literature, and identifies research gaps to be bridged by further empirical research. In the first part, authors systematically review 167 refereed journal articles, classify the WB research into five main research themes and summarize their findings. In the second part, the article uncovers various unknown aspects of WB and provides concrete directions for future empirical research. Thrust areas of attention are highlighted for industry and policy makers.


2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Biebricher

AbstractThe essay aims at an assessment of whether and to what extent the history of governmentality can be considered to be a genealogy. To this effect a generic account of core tenets of Foucauldian genealogy is developed. The three core tenets highlighted are (1) a radically contingent view of history that is (2) expressed in a distinct style and (3) highlights the impact of power on this history. After a brief discussion of the concept of governmentality and a descriptive summary of its history, this generic account is used as a measuring device to be applied to the history of governmentality. While both, the concept of governmentality and also its history retain certain links to genealogical precepts, my overall conclusion is that particularly the history of governmentality (and not necessarily Foucault's more programmatic statements about it) departs from these precepts in significant ways. Not only is there a notable difference in style that cannot be accounted for entirely by the fact that this history is produced in the medium of lectures. Aside from a rather abstract consideration of the importance of societal struggles, revolts and other forms of resistance, there is also little reference to the role of these phenomena in the concrete dynamics of governmental shifts that are depicted in the historical narrative. Finally, in contrast to the historical contingency espoused by genealogy and the programmatic statements about governmentality, the actual history of the latter can be plausibly, albeit unsympathetically, read in a rather teleological fashion according to which the transformations of governmentality amount to the unfolding of an initially implicit notion of governing that is subsequently realised in ever more consistent ways. In the final section of the essay I turn towards the field of governmentality studies, arguing that some of the more problematic tendencies in this research tradition can be traced back to Foucault's own account. In particular, the monolithic conceptualisation of governmentality and the implicit presentism of an excessive focus on Neoliberalism found in many of the studies in governmentality can be linked back to problems in Foucault's own history of governmenality. The paper concludes with suggestions for a future research agenda for the governmentality studies that point beyond Foucault's own account and its respective limitations.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document