Factors Influencing Readiness for Transformational E-Government: An Empirical Study on Perspective of Local Governments in South Africa

The purpose of the chapter is to explore the readiness of local governments (municipalities) in South Africa to transform to be able to deliver services to its citizens using ICT. The study applied Structuration Theory (ST) and drew on the concepts of duality of structure and action particularly: the enactment of technology-in-practice (ETiP) as a lens to understand and interpret the social construct. The objective was to determine the factors contributing to the readiness of municipalities to adopt ICT to transform the way and manner they deliver essential services to the public. The concept “Transformational e-Government” (TeG) is discussed in this chapter to analyse the determinant factors influencing service delivery. This chapter aimed to analyse the readiness of South African local government when rendering services through information and communication technology (ICT). An interpretive case study methodology where semi-structured interviews were used to collect information. The findings were that out of the 15 participated municipalities only 7% were ready for TeG initiatives, 60% were near ready and 33% have a long way to go to implement TeG initiatives. The results also showed that 5 out of the 8 Metro Cities in South Africa were ready to implement TeG initiatives successfully. The implications of the study were that, the ST is able to provide the lens through which to understand, interpret and determine the factors contributing to the readiness of municipalities to implement TeG to improve service delivery.

An Analysis of Management Accounting System Development from the Structuration Theory Viewpoint

Our study covered the development and evolution of the management accounting system of a subsidiary company in a group. Our study was a longitudinal one starting from the incorporation of the company. We divided this period into five stages according to the major events happened, namely the formation of the company, the invoicing crisis, the conflict with parent company, the conflict with fellow subsidiaries, and the influence of the chief executive. In our analysis we applied the three dimensions of structure in the theory of structuration (i.e., signification, legitimation and domination). The structuration theory explained the emergence of certain phenomena and events that were not explained by traditional accounting theories. Many events in our study validated the core ideas of the structuration theory which composes of the concepts of structure, system and duality of structure. The phenomena suggested that structure was both the medium and outcome of the conduct it recursively organized. Other features of the theory, such as the dialectic of control and system contradiction, were also applicable

An Analysis of Management Accounting System Development from the Structuration Theory Viewpoint

Our study covered the development and evolution of the management accounting system of a subsidiary company in a group. Our study was a longitudinal one starting from the incorporation of the company. We divided this period into five stages according to the major events happened, namely the formation of the company, the invoicing crisis, the conflict with parent company, the conflict with fellow subsidiaries, and the influence of the chief executive. In our analysis we applied the three dimensions of structure in the theory of structuration (i.e., signification, legitimation and domination). The structuration theory explained the emergence of certain phenomena and events that were not explained by traditional accounting theories. Many events in our study validated the core ideas of the structuration theory which composes of the concepts of structure, system and duality of structure. The phenomena suggested that structure was both the medium and outcome of the conduct it recursively organized. Other features of the theory, such as the dialectic of control and system contradiction, were also applicable.

Journalistic Autonomy

This article investigates the concept of autonomy within the journalistic institution. A review of the literature reveals that journalist autonomy is restricted at the political, economic and organisational levels of news production, negotiated at the editorial level, and exercised at the level of practice. The article addresses the limits of professional autonomy, aiming for a wider contextualisation of the question to analyse the factors that restrict and enable journalistic autonomy. By investigating journalistic autonomy within the duality of structure, the analysis finds that autonomy is attained when journalists engage in the recursive reproduction of the institution. The level of autonomy enjoyed by journalists therefore remains a fluid concept that is continually adjusted to manage the daily task of reporting the news.

Health Sustainability and Socialization Agents Roles in Organ Donation

This article explores how sustainable health can be encouraged through the role of socialization amongst the youth in Malaysia in the context of the decision-making process towards becoming an organ donor. This is imperative for the nation especially the policymaker and health business sector in designing strategies pertaining to health issues. The concept of the ‘duality of structure' is used as a starting point to link between health sustainability and health communication on organ donation in congregating intergenerational equity by uncovering the structural properties or conditions which either enable or constrain the future of health initiatives. Therefore, this article is aimed to focus on the values and norms commonly transferred by the socialization agents regarding the behavioral development of the potential donor. Data was gathered using self-administered questionnaires from 162 youth. The findings illustrate that the supportive influence from agents of socialization affected towards certain degree on the behavioral formation on becoming an organ donor.

ИНТЕГРАТИВНЫЕ ПОДХОДЫ К ДИЛЕММЕ «СТРУКТУРА/ДЕЙСТВИЕ» В СОВРЕМЕННОЙ СОЦИАЛЬНОЙ ТЕОРИИ (Э.ГИДДЕНС, П. БУРДЬЕ, Ю. ХАБЕРМАС)

The article is addressed to the general views of three prominent social thinkers on the fundamental theoretical dilemma of “structure/agency”, deep differences in understanding of which are still considered as basis for intense discussions among pundits, representing various streams and schools in sociology. The theory of structuration, elaborated by Anthony Giddens, Bourdieu’s scrutinizing of practice, habitus and fields, Habermas’ theory of “colonization of life-world” are all considered as pioneering and plentiful attempts of resolving of crisis of social theory and establishment of particular integrative conjunction of objectivist and subjectivist paradigms of social knowledge, which determines their theoretical resemblance and justify their joint study. Besides, these integrative approaches give the authors reason to make some distinctive remarks concerning origins of social conflicts, conflicting forms of interaction of social actors, and structural contradictoriness underlying them. The core of Giddens’ approach is constituted by idea of “duality of structure”, which not exclusively restricts agency, but creates opportunities for humans, who possess reflexivity and practical consciousness, to form and change social practices and thereby reshape structural conditions. Bourdieu, in his turn, uses the concept of practices, occurring within particular social fields embracing agents and their social positions, to designate where the dialectic of structure and agency exactly takes place, and habitus which while being both structured structure and structuring structure, is interpreted as systems of schemes of perception, evaluation and cognition of practices. Habermas treats the problem, firstly, by analytically separating categories “life-word” as inner point of view of an actor on society, where he is engaged in implementation of communicative action and “system” as a level of structures and institutions and, secondly, postulating, that according to the logic of social development, leading to inner differentiation and mutual divergence of these levels, “colonization of life-world by system” is accelerating, which results in various disruption of communication.

Weber, Durkheim, and the Duality of Structure in Modern Society

The theoretical projects of Max Weber and Emile Durkheim address the character anddynamics of the modern social order. The implications of modern society on the nature of being human in a social world are vast, as demonstrated by the myriad upheavals witnessed since the ‘long’ 19th century2. But what are the implications of modern society on what it means to be a moral being? How do individualism and social solidarity coexist? The following addresses the complexity of these questions by analyzing Weber and Durkheim’s perspectives on the transition to modern life and the relationship between modern society and the individual. With Marx as a theoretical backdrop, this essay examines how Weber and Durkheim conceived of the problems of modern society by underscoring the dualities that are reflected in autonomy, authority, rationalization, and other dimensions of structure inherent within social organization and interdependence. These concomitant dualities evince the necessary doubleness of the human condition and how it enmeshes society in a “poverty of morality” (Durkheim, Suicide , p. 387) that is in need of a new moral order and greater social solidarity.

Land Governance in Post-Conflict Settings: Interrogating Decision-Making by International Actors

Humanitarian and development organizations working in conflict-affected settings have a particular responsibility to do no harm and contribute to the wellbeing of the population without bias. The highly complex, politicized realities of work in conflict- and post-conflict settings often require quick, pragmatic and results-oriented decisions, the foundations of which remain frequently implicit. Such decisions might follow an intrinsic logic or situational pragmatism rather than intensive deliberation. This paper reflects on the realities of working on land governance in post-conflict settings shaped by migration, ethnic division, power struggles and limited statehood. Using case examples from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi, this paper reflects on the drivers of decisions around land governance in such contexts in a structured, theoretically informed way. Drawing on the author’s own experience with supporting land rights work and utilizing Giddens’ concept of the Duality of Structure, this article provides an analysis of actors and structures that sheds light on the factors that affect the decision-making of practitioners relating to land rights in post-conflict areas of limited statehood.

Linguistic Capital as Foreign Domination Structure in Tourism Domain: a Case Study in Seminyak Bali

Focus of this paper is the practice of using linguistic symbols in tourism. The locus is in Seminyak Bali tourism area. The purpose of this paper is to (1) identify the forms of linguistic symbols as capital practiced in tourism, (2) to pattern the linguistic dominance over people (tourists) and economtal and the duality of structure. Research data indicate that the existence of language symbols has shifted from local character to global character. Language symbols as a representation of foreign capital in the streets of Seminyak Bali as a phenomenon of foreign capital domination practice in the realm of tourism. The results found: (1) forms of linguistic capital (foreign investors), (2) forms of linguistic domination of people (tourists) and the economy (goods), and (3) the legitimacy of linguistic capital.