Search results for " public administration"
showing 10 items of 979 documents
Opportunities and challenges of digitized discretionary practices: a public service worker perspective
2018
Abstract Public service workers exercise discretionary power during policy implementation. Due to an immense diffusion of information and communications technology (ICT) in public service provision, they are increasingly exposed to reforms aiming at more efficient and fair decision-making. Whereas extant literature has found that ICT can both enable and constrain public service workers' ability to exercise discretion, we know less about underlying explanations for these inconclusive findings. This paper addresses this research gap by exploring how and why public service workers react to digitized discretionary practices. We draw upon institutional logics to show the underlying consideration…
Eurocity London: a qualitative comparison of graduate migration from Germany, Italy and Latvia
2016
This paper compares the motivations and characteristics of the recent migration to London of young-adult graduates from Germany, Italy and Latvia. Conceptually the paper links three domains: the theory of core–periphery structures within Europe; the notion of London as both a global city and a ‘Eurocity’; and the trope of ‘crisis’. The dataset analysed consists of 95 in-depth biographical interviews and the paper’s main objective is to tease out the narrative similarities and differences between the three groups interviewed. Each of the three nationalities represents a different geo-economic positioning within Europe. German graduates move from one economically prosperous country to another…
Managers’ Moral Struggle : A Case Study on Ethical Dilemmas and Ethical Decision-making in the Context of Immigration
2019
This qualitative study explores the types of ethical dilemmas that Finnish managers working in reception centres for asylum seekers have encountered and whether the moral intensity of the ethical issues was observable in the ethical decision-making. It concludes that the majority of the managers interviewed encountered ethical dilemmas relating to the termination of reception services. The ethical dilemmas were stratified into seven groups: ambiguous or complete absence of relevant instructions, lack of support, conflicting values, withholding information, pressure, discretionary stress, and unjust decisions on asylum applications. In addition, various dimensions of moral intensity were obs…
The gender gap in teenagers’ incomes. A 30-year trend in Finland 1983–2013
2015
ABSTRACTIn this article, we examine the gender differences in disposable incomes of teenagers during a 30-year period 1983–2013, using large nationally representative survey data. Since the gender pay gap in working life has been rather persistent in Finland and the EU, it was necessary to see whether the gap persists in teenagers’ incomes as well. Although teenagers do not receive much income from work, they adapt to the structures of society during their teenage years and learn gender roles in consumption, education, and working life. Our results reveal that the gender pay gap has been rather persistent in Finland, particularly among 14- and 16-year-old teenagers. It is only among 18-year…
From the barbecue to the sauna: A comparative account of the folding of media reception into the everyday life
2021
How and why do people still get print newspapers in an era dominated by mobile and social media communication? In this article, we answer this question about the permanence of traditional media in a digital media ecosystem by analyzing 488 semi-structured interviews conducted in Argentina, Finland, Israel, Japan, and the United States. We focus on three mechanisms of media reception: access, sociality, and ritualization. Our findings show that these mechanisms are decisively shaped by patterns of everyday life that are not captured by the scholarly foci on either content- or technology-influences on media use. Thus, we argue that a non-media centric approach improves descriptive fit and ad…
Politics of memory and oblivion. An introduction to the special issue
2019
This editorial sets the context for the special issue on memory and oblivion and introduces the contributions. By interpreting the contemporary uses of the past, the editorial underscores the relevance of the study of memory and oblivion in today’s heated and antagonistic debates. The politics of memory and uses of the past often coincide with efforts of reducing the past to legitimize the current authorities and tend to create new gaps in memory that contribute to the polarisation of societies. The special issue consists of six articles that scrutinise the consequences of the intertwining of memory, oblivion and political power in European countries. Based on two main approaches, the contr…
Childcare and work : exploring the views of Finnish mothers and fathers
2017
In this study, meanings given to childcare and work by parents were explored. The aim was to shed light on what factors parents consider when they decide who is going to stay at home. Four mothers and four fathers, all of whom had been both working and stay-at-home parents, were interviewed. The data were analyzed qualitatively. Parents believed in gender equality; however, the decision who stays at home was not based on gender. Cultural beliefs in the primacy of the mother could also be seen. Expectations of good mothering contradicted the ones related to the idea of a good working citizen causing mothers to feel guilty. The mothers said that staying at home was not something they needed t…
Nations in black: charting the national thanatopolitics of mourning across European countries
2019
Periods of national mourning have been on the rise in the last decades in European societies as part of a wider process of democratization, whereby ordinary citizens have been increasingly granted ...
‘I’m still the master of the machine.’ Internet users’ awareness of algorithmic decision-making and their perception of its effect on their autonomy
2020
Algorithms are an integral part of our everyday lives and shape the selection and presentation of information and communication on the internet. At the same time, media users are faced with a lack of control and transparency when interacting with these systems because algorithms largely remain black boxes to end users. Relying on the notion that algorithms are socio-technical systems that comprise both technical and human components, this paper examines internet users’ awareness of algorithms in different areas of internet use and inquires into users’ perceptions of the impact of algorithms on their autonomy when interacting online. Empirically, we rely on qualitative interviews with 30 Ger…
Theorising about barriers to open e-learning systems in public administrations
2018
Abstract Barriers to the general use of e-learning technology are known across various contexts. Despite increasing efforts to clarify the range of these barriers, few efforts have been made to advance the theorising about them and, thus, to answer why and how they unfold. This study is motivated to overcome this unaddressed problem and develops a process model based on adaptive structuration theory (AST) and the punctuated socio-technical change model (PSIC). It represents how barriers unfold between actors, technology, and organisational properties in public administrations. The PaSIC model provides a new perspective on how critical incidents drive the emergence and progress of barriers t…