Trust and authority in the age of mediatised politics

This article examines the role of trust in the age of mediatised politics. Authority, we suggest, can be successfully enacted despite the disrupted nature of the public sphere if both rational and moral trust are utilised to formulate validity claims. Drawing from Maarten A. Hajer's theorisation of authority in contemporary politics, we develop a model of how political actors and institutions as well as the media employ both rational and moral trust performances to generate authority. Analysing a Finnish case of controversial investigative journalism on defence intelligence, we show how the media in network governance need to critically evaluate the authority performances of political actors while at the same time enacting their own authority performances to retain their position within the governing network and to manufacture trust among networked publics. This volatile position can lead to situations where the media compete for authority with traditional political institutions.

How does network position influence project performance in Chinese megaprojects? An inter-organizational conflict-based perspective

Purpose This study aims to explore the relationship between network position, various types of inter-organizational conflicts and project performance in the context of megaprojects. Design/methodology/approach Centrality and structural holes were used to represent network position. A theoretical model was developed, and a structured questionnaire survey was conducted with construction professionals involved in megaprojects. A total of 291 valid responses were obtained, which were analyzed via structural equation modeling. Findings The results showed that centrality negatively impacts project performance, while structural holes do not significantly impact project performance. Centrality negatively affects task conflicts, but positively affects process conflicts and relationship conflicts. Structural holes positively impact task conflicts, but negatively impact both process conflicts and relationship conflicts. Task conflict and relationship conflict exert constructive and destructive effects on project performance, respectively, while process conflict does not significantly impact project performance. Task conflict and relationship conflict play mediating roles. Task conflict weakens while relationship conflict strengthens the relationship between centrality and project performance. Task conflict strengthens while relationship conflict weakens the relationship between structure hole and project performance. Research limitations/implications This study provides a reference for the implementation of network governance, inter-organizational conflict management and project performance management in megaprojects. However, the impact of dynamic changes of inter-organizational conflicts and network position on project performance has not been discussed in the context of megaprojects. Future research may explore the impact of dynamic changes of conflicts and network position on project implementation. Originality/value This study increases the current understanding of the impact of network position on project performance. Moreover, a new direction for network governance in the context of megaprojects is provided. This study also verified both the constructive and destructive effects of conflicts and the mediating role they play, thus supplementing the literature on inter-organizational conflict management in the construction field.

The Failure on Our Governance: Reaksi Masyarakat Sipil terhadap Kebijakan Publik di Masa Pandemi

Tulisan ini berusaha memberikan elaborasi mengenai faktor-faktor apa saja yang berperan dalam kegagalan pemerintah atas kebijakannya di masa pandemi hingga memunculkan reaksi dari masyarakat sipil. Mulai dari minimnya preparedness, perbedaan sense of urgency, broken linkage, hingga rendahnya sense of belonging menjadi bahasan yang disajikan secara lebih lanjut dalam tulisan ini. Bagaimana pemerintah akhirnya mengakomodasi hadirnya komunitas sebagai bentuk resistensi yang mewujudkan terciptanya self-governing community. Yang mana keberadaannya juga mendorong berjalannya suatu demokratisasi. Melihat bahwa pergerakan dan polarisasi perlawanan sipil yang semakin tumbuh menjamur sebagai bentuk gerak komunal di masa pandemi. Indonesia menjadi salah satu negara yang turut meningkatkan resistensi. Melalui realita serta sumber-sumber sekunder, tulisan ini menjelaskan apa yang menyebabkan pemerintah gagap dalam penanganan pandemi hingga memicu kemunculan masyarakat sipil. Hingga akhirnya, civil society menjadi solusi (mobilizing for action) dalam tata kelola pemerintahan. Kata kunci: civil society, broken linkage, network governance, self-governing community, civil resistance, social contract

Political ideas of the network society: why digitalization research needs critical conceptual analysis

In this article, I argue for an interpretive approach to digitalization research that analyzes the concepts, narratives, and belief systems in digitalization debates. I illustrate this methodological proposal by assessing the spread of network ideas. Many political actors and digitalization researchers follow network ideas, e.g. by claiming that the rise of a network society must lead to network governance. In contrast to this narrative, I argue that there are multiple visions of the digital society, each of which follows a specific pattern of epistemology, social imaginary, and political proposals. These competing self-interpretations must be investigated by digitalization research in order to map and evaluate different pathways into a digital society. For doing so, critical conceptual analysis draws on political theory, critical conceptual history, and the sociology of knowledge. It offers two major benefits for digitalization research. Firstly, it provides a systematic overview of competing governance rationalities in the digital society, enabling a critical evaluation of their potentials and proposals. Secondly, it enhances the methodological rigor of digitalization research by reviewing the narratives researchers themselves tell. I substantiate these claims by analyzing and historicizing the above network narrative. Tracing it back to cybernetics, I show that it has been used multiple times in efforts to reshape the way we think about society and politics, including our concepts of subjectivity, power, and governance.

Optimization of Networked Governance Models Using Complex System Governance Concepts in Sports Services

In order to increase the participation rate of community residents in sports services, on the governance concept of a complex system, the networked governance model under sports services has been studied. Firstly, by introducing the background of networked governance, the supply of sports services is selected as the research object. The selected sports service providers are the government, universities, enterprises, associations, and residents. Secondly, the structural model of sports service supply has been constructed. Combining the direct effects model and the intermediary relationship model, the questionnaire is designed. The current situation of sports service supply in the study area is analyzed. Finally, on this basis, the networked governance model strategy has been optimized. The results show that because the age distribution of the subjects is relatively young, the residents in the study area have a higher degree of understanding of sports services. In the direct relationship model and the mediating effect model, the 6 fitting indicators are consistent with the standard values, and no abnormal data appeared. The government, universities, and associations have a significant influence on the supply of sports services. The impact of enterprises and residents on the supply of sports services is not significant. The community environment plays an intermediary role in the supply of residents and sports services, and the supply of enterprises and sports services. Network governance should pay more attention to the participation of multiple subjects, change the leading role of the government, break down the communication barriers between supply subjects, establish an information security mechanism, and build an information sharing system. The research results provide a reference direction for the development of network management in sports services.

Adoption of Blockchain Technology through Digital Twins in the Construction Industry 4.0: A PESTELS Approach

The key challenges of the building, engineering, construction, operations, and mining (BECOM) industries are the lack of trust, inefficiencies, and the fragmentation of the information value chain into vulnerable data silos throughout the lifecycle of projects. This paper aims to develop a novel conceptual model for the implementation of blockchain technology (BCT) for digital twin(s) (DT) in the BECOM industry 4.0 to improve trust, cyber security, efficiencies, information management, information sharing, and sustainability. A PESTELS approach is used to review the literature and identify the key challenges affecting BCT adoption for the BECOM industry 4.0. A review of the technical literature on BCT combined with the findings from PESTELS analysis permitted researchers to identify the key technological factors affecting BCT adoption in the industry. This allowed offering a technological framework—namely, the decentralized digital twin cycle (DDTC)—that leverages BCT to address the key technological factors and to ultimately enhance trust, security, decentralization, efficiency, traceability, and transparency of information throughout projects’ lifecycles. The study also identifies the gaps in the integration of BCT with key technologies of industry 4.0, including the internet of things (IoT), building information modeling (BIM), and DT. The framework offered addresses key technological factors and narrows key gaps around network governance, scalability, decentralization, interoperability, energy efficiency, computational requirements, and BCT integration with IoT, BIM, and DT throughout projects’ lifecycles. The model also considers the regulatory aspect and the environmental aspect, and the circular economy (CE). The theoretical framework provides key technological building blocks for industry practitioners to develop the DDTC concept further and implement it through experimental works. Finally, the paper provides an industry-specific analysis and technological approach facilitating BCT adoption through DT to address the key challenges and improve sustainability for the BECOM industry 4.0.

Transforming the scope of the bank through fintechs: toward a modularized network governance

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework of the transformation of the bank's scope driven by fintechs.Design/methodology/approachThe conceptual foundations for a comprehensive transformation of the bank governance through financial technologies (fintechs) are underexplored. In order to develop such foundations, the authors adopt transaction cost economics (TCE), the concepts of external enablers and a modular organizational design, as well as a systematic literature review.FindingsThe results point to three scenarios of the banks' scope, depending on the adopted technological mechanisms and related effects that change the characteristics of organizational activities, justifying new bank boundaries. The most advanced application of fintechs results in a modularized network scenario leading to the emergence of financial ecosystems.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed micro-perspective of decisional rules in an individual organization is unique in the current literature that predominantly focuses on the banking sector at large. The identified scenarios are valuable for solid theoretical and empirical grounding and can be further exploited in decision simulations and empirical studies.Practical implicationsThe proposed theoretical framework points to the rationales and consequences of adopted technologies for the boundaries of a bank organization.Originality/valueThis paper provides three contributions to the literature on technology-driven transformations of organizations with a focus on banks. First, the authors elaborate a theoretical framework for establishing the bank's boundaries in response to the expansion of financial technologies. Second, the authors add to the knowledge accumulation in the area of organizational transformations based on the ICT adoption, in particular, to the literature on the modular organizational design. Third, the authors contribute to the decision-maker practice by proposing the alternative options of banks' scope transformed through fintechs.

Through the Lens of Networks: Health Promotion Policy Implementation for the Elderly at the Local Level in Thailand

<p>The Thai government has included health promotion in its national policies and strategies to directly address the health of the elderly. Multiple government organisations at various levels are involved in this health promotion policy and its related efforts. With an emphasis on ensuring that the elderly in the community benefit from national health promotion policies, and have access to health promotion services, the policies directed government organisations to work together as a network to implement the health promotion policy for the elderly at the local level. The Local Administrative Organisations (LAOs), decentralised government organisations, acted as the centre of the networks in each sub-district across the country. Networks play a role as an essential mechanism in the health promotion policy implementation for the elderly and in reaching out to the smallest unit of the community: individual older people. However, there are known gaps in the functioning of the decentralised governance arrangements and in coordination between organisations to implement the health promotion policy. Policy implementation can be improved to ensure that key goals and objectives are met. The objective of this research was to analyse the ways in which the LAOs and other government organisations together implement the health promotion policy for the elderly at the local level in Thailand. Using a network perspective, the governance structure and governance characteristics, including relationships and the functioning of the policy implementation network, are identified and analysed. How the observed network characteristics affect network collaboration, policy outcomes, and actors’ capacity in policy implementation are then explored. Within an interpretivist perspective, the research employed multiple network analysis approaches and mixed methods data collection such as network mapping, non-participant observation, interviews, and questionnaire surveys, across two case study sites. A combination of thematic analysis and constant comparative methods were employed to analyse the data. The networks in this study were found to have a hybrid governance form, being a combination of lead organisation-governed and shared governance. However, it is not possible to predict the likelihood of achieving good policy outcomes based on the form of network governance alone; other networks characteristics must also be studied. At the network level, influential factors indicative of policy outcomes were found to be the exchanges of political and cultural capitals between network actors, with the latter differentiating the policy outcomes across the two cases. To improve the network actors’ capacity in policy implementation, learning and resource exchanges between actors were found to be important. Based on the study findings, an intervention to improve policy outcomes should be encouraged through financial capital exchanges between network actors as this is when administrative authority is most dominant. The research provides an empirical review to inform policymakers and practitioners that the most influential factors should be embedded during the funding process so that the policy implementation can better support health for the elderly and the aged society that Thailand is entering.</p>

Through the Lens of Networks: Health Promotion Policy Implementation for the Elderly at the Local Level in Thailand

<p>The Thai government has included health promotion in its national policies and strategies to directly address the health of the elderly. Multiple government organisations at various levels are involved in this health promotion policy and its related efforts. With an emphasis on ensuring that the elderly in the community benefit from national health promotion policies, and have access to health promotion services, the policies directed government organisations to work together as a network to implement the health promotion policy for the elderly at the local level. The Local Administrative Organisations (LAOs), decentralised government organisations, acted as the centre of the networks in each sub-district across the country. Networks play a role as an essential mechanism in the health promotion policy implementation for the elderly and in reaching out to the smallest unit of the community: individual older people. However, there are known gaps in the functioning of the decentralised governance arrangements and in coordination between organisations to implement the health promotion policy. Policy implementation can be improved to ensure that key goals and objectives are met. The objective of this research was to analyse the ways in which the LAOs and other government organisations together implement the health promotion policy for the elderly at the local level in Thailand. Using a network perspective, the governance structure and governance characteristics, including relationships and the functioning of the policy implementation network, are identified and analysed. How the observed network characteristics affect network collaboration, policy outcomes, and actors’ capacity in policy implementation are then explored. Within an interpretivist perspective, the research employed multiple network analysis approaches and mixed methods data collection such as network mapping, non-participant observation, interviews, and questionnaire surveys, across two case study sites. A combination of thematic analysis and constant comparative methods were employed to analyse the data. The networks in this study were found to have a hybrid governance form, being a combination of lead organisation-governed and shared governance. However, it is not possible to predict the likelihood of achieving good policy outcomes based on the form of network governance alone; other networks characteristics must also be studied. At the network level, influential factors indicative of policy outcomes were found to be the exchanges of political and cultural capitals between network actors, with the latter differentiating the policy outcomes across the two cases. To improve the network actors’ capacity in policy implementation, learning and resource exchanges between actors were found to be important. Based on the study findings, an intervention to improve policy outcomes should be encouraged through financial capital exchanges between network actors as this is when administrative authority is most dominant. The research provides an empirical review to inform policymakers and practitioners that the most influential factors should be embedded during the funding process so that the policy implementation can better support health for the elderly and the aged society that Thailand is entering.</p>