After virtue, a study in moral theory

The third way: the renewal of social democracy

Thermal physics: Second edition by C. B. P. Finn, Chapman and Hall, London-Glasgow-New York-Tokyo-Melbourne-Madras, 1993 physics and its applications series, volume 5, 256 pages price: ß13.95

Systemic Racism: A Theory of Oppression

While technology adoption is a major stream of research in information systems, few studies have examined the antecedents and consequences of mandatory adoption of technologies. To address this gap, we develop and test a model of mandatory citizen adoption of an e-government technology. Based on a framework that outlines the key stages associated with the launch of technology products, we identify various external factors as antecedents of four key technology adoption variables from the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), i.e., performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions, which ultimately impact citizen satisfaction. The four stages of technology launch and the salient antecedents in each stage are: market preparation stage - awareness; targeting stage - compatibility and self-efficacy; positioning stage - flexibility and avoidance of personal interaction; and execution stage - trust, convenience, and assistance. We test our model in a two-stage survey of 1,179 Hong Kong citizens, before and after they were issued a mandatory smart card to access e-government services. We find that the various factors tied to the different stages in launching the technology predict key technology adoption variables that, in turn, predict citizen satisfaction with e-government technology. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications for governments implementing technologies whose use by citizens is mandated.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1976951_code662786.pdf?abstractid=1976951&mirid=1

Modeling Citizen Satisfaction with Mandatory Adoption of an E-Government Technology

The diffusion of innovations model (DIM) and complex adaptive systems theory (CAS) can be employed together in the construction of predictive or applied hybrid models of induced change in population behavior. In such interventions, differentiated heterogeneous zones may act as catalysts for the adoption of innovation. The present study explores the actual and potential hybridization of these two systems theories, relying on illustrations from historical practical applications of DIM, particularly the STOP AIDS communication campaign in San Francisco. The resulting co-theoretical model provides an analytical tool for students of innovation, particularly in the public sector, and especially in applications of network analysis predicated on a crucially defining feature of social networks, namely “the strength of weak ties” among their members. In cultivating network ties among heterogeneous groups connected by common aims, it is here argued, the innovator may prompt and, to an extent, guide the complex emergence of innovation adoption in social systems. Commonalities in the concept of heterogeneity in CAS and in DIM is explored in depth, along its many dimensions, including membership and role heterogeneity, with a view to preliminary operationalization of diffusion-management principles.

/pdf/complex-adaptive-systems-and-the-diffusion-of-innovations-2y9pczulg5.pdf

Complex adaptive systems and the diffusion of innovations

Over the last two decades, the utilization as well as applied study of collaborative networks has become central to both public- and private-sector management. Interorganizational networks may function better or worse than the traditional institution of the firm, with its internal role and authority distribution structures, depending on a number of factors, among others homophily (isomorphism, similarity) versus heterophily (heterogeneity, variety), cultural affinity versus cultural distance in communications, the quality of internal and external network relationships as these evolve, and the pace of innovation adoption. All of these factors, delineated in the present study, help define the aptness of organizational network form to innovation adoption and adaptation. One of the authors (the late Everett M. Rogers), a pioneer in the communications and innovation-diffusion fields, defines a network as “interconnected individuals who are linked by patterned communication flows”; thus framed, networks span various levels of action analysis, from the individual to the interorganizational and systemic. As they encompass micro- and macro-cultural dimensions of communications about innovation (Rogers & Agarwala-Rogers, 1976, p. 10), networked interpersonal, inter-group, and intercultural communications may be seen as progressively more comprehensive critical variables in the diffusion of innovation. The present study, built on an earlier research note (Rivera & Rogers, 2004), evaluates three social programs in the United States using Rogers’ diffusion of innovations (DIM) model: (1) The STOPAIDS preventive health public education program in San Francisco, designed in the early eighties around the Rogers step-wise diffusion model (opinion leaders to adopters), and launched in two waves, first in the early eighties to early nineties and then again in the late nineties; (2) the National Library of Medicine’s efforts to disseminate clinically-applicable scientific findings to health professionals, especially members of racial and ethnic minorities; and (3) a webbased, cancer prevention nutrition-education project of the National Cancer Institute across seven national demonstration sites, aimed at women in minority communities, called the Health Communication Intervention Research Initiative.

http://www.unm.edu/~marivera/522%20readings%201/Innovation%20Diffusion%20Rivera%20Rogers%20PPM_2006_02_.pdf

Innovation Diffusion, Network Features, and Cultural Communication Variables

It is generally agreed that diversity is a critical challenge for managers and that advancing organizational diversity is both an ethical and a pragmatic requirement for effective public administra...

Refocusing Graduate Public Affairs Education: A Need for Diversity Competencies in Human Resource Management

Treatments of race and police violence in the fields of public administration and policy have drawn eclectically from many disciplinary sources in historical, political, and managerial analysis. From an institutional perspective, emphasis has been on how organizational practices, rules, norms, and values, along with role socialization, shape germane behavior. Of particular interest to the authors is the phenomenon of race-related police violence in its systemic but also attitudinal and behavioral manifestations in the policing role. How does an academic or practitioner researcher specify evaluative perspectives applicable to this policy and administrative challenge? There is a prior need for defined analytical and ethical positions drawing closely from public administration and policy sources. This article suggests ways to develop such grounded frameworks, built on these distinctive traditions but also going beyond them, so as to allow for an integrative approach to evaluative analysis and action on this grave and contentious issue.

Toward an analytical framework for the study of race and police violence

How can an ethical-analytical framework focused on social equity help illuminate the challenges faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth of color, particularly th...

Mario A. Rivera

Papers

Complex adaptive systems and the diffusion of innovations

Innovation Diffusion, Network Features, and Cultural Communication Variables

Refocusing Graduate Public Affairs Education: A Need for Diversity Competencies in Human Resource Management

Toward an analytical framework for the study of race and police violence

A Public Ethics Approach Focused on the Lives of Diverse LGBTQ Homeless Youth