The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Organizational Rankings: A Multidisciplinary Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research

A review of the literature on organizational rankings across management, sociology, education, and law reveals three perspectives on these complex evaluations—rankings are seen as a form of information intermediation, as comparative orderings, or as a means for surveillance and control. The information intermediation perspective views rankings as information products that address information asymmetries between the ranked organizations and their stakeholders; the comparative orderings perspective views them as representations of organizational status and reputation; and the surveillance and control perspective emphasizes their disciplining power that subjects ranked organizations to political and economic interests. For each perspective, we identify core contributions as well as additional questions that extend the current body of research. We also identify a new perspective—rankings entrepreneurship—which has been overlooked to date but presents significant opportunities to extend our understanding of the production and consumption of rankings.

Information actions in science and technology: institutionalities, agencies and subjects

Considering the influence of new agency forms - intervention and interaction among subjects - in the context of information intermediation, we aim to approach information actions in Science and Technology (S&T) taking into consideration the institutionalities involved. For such, we assume there is an influence of a theoretical model emerging in Information Science (IS) regarding current inventive and interactive form propitiated by the Web. The text is structured in two central topics bringing: i) theoretical and epistemic constructions of the "information action" concept; and ii) a certain interpretation oriented by the "informational action in S&T" construct, taking as its object the actions performed by IBICT (Brazilian Institute for Information in Science and Technology), directed towards excellence in information. Finally, we discuss how limitations of the "systemic model" propitiate the construction of new study objects in the model emerging in IS from theoretical innovations and counterpoints thoughts facing the diverse forms of information action, considering, for instance, the action of subjects on what concerns the validation of information in the current scenery of institutional intermediation.

Challenges and Opportunities for Information Brokers in Brazil

Information is no longer just a control tool for managers — it is a basic resource as important as raw materials or the human resource. Consequently, it is a significant managerial responsibility to decide which kind of information should support the organization’s decision-making process. This is particularly the case when expanding the business. This chapter presents the results of a study examining the information needs of 796 Southern-Brazilian enterprises contemplating business growth. The survey is part of a program of research into information intermediation via the Internet. The results show a marked convergence of the sample’s informational needs, but also some significant differences among specific business groups. In addition, the research has surfaced some clear “core” of informational needs, supported by some “peripheral” needs. The chapter concludes with a summary, reflections and some future research directions.