John M. Stevens

Assessing personal, role, and organizational predictors of managerial commitment.

Using a role and exchange theory framework, this study examines the commitment to their organization and to the federal service of 634 managers in 71 federal government organizations. Results indicate that certain role factors such as tenure and work overload and personal factors such as attitude toward change and job involvement are strong influences on commitment. Implications of the findings and the need for further theoretical and methodological refinements are discussed.

Managerial Strategies in Municipal Government Organizations

The article discusses a study pertaining to managerial strategies in municipal government organizations. The findings indicate that there are multiple internal and external strategy approaches used...

Knowledge Transfer from Universities to Business: Returns for all Stakeholders?:

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The Utilization of Information Systems Technology and Its Impact on Organizational Decision Making The Case of State Budgeting Offices

Despite the considerable attention which the growth of information systems technology in government has received over the past two decades, research focusing on the development, confirmation, or extension of theories which explain the use of a wide range of technological innovations has had a mixed record of success. In particular, two issues stand out. Divergent and frequently ambiguous definitions of utilization have led to relatively little replication of findings in various public settings. Second, relatively little empirical research has been under taken which explicitly incorporated and tested multiple alternative explanations of potential determinants of utilization, leading to continued fragmentation in the research literature. This analysis, using a national sample of state budgeting offices, draws on theoretical propositions offered over the past decade and more to operationalize utilization as the impact of technology on key organizational deciston-making processes and assess the relative explanatory power offered by three alternative explanations for the successful use of information systems technology. The findings suggest that unique combinations of three types of factors—environmental, managerial-organizational, and technological—will explain and account for the successful uutilization of technology in various settings.

Intellectual property transfer from universities to business: requisite for sustained competitive advantage?

Business is experiencing an ongoing fundamental shift in the competitive environment, which highlights the need for knowledge development and the interdependence between users and producers, including universities, government, and society. This interdependence is specifically accentuated by the transfer of intellectual property from universities to corporations that are intent on developing sustainable competitive strategies. This paper presents a conceptual framework and research questions and the results of an exploratory study which focused upon the interaction between pivotal universities and business in a society-government context. Among other findings, the paper concludes that the economic and contractual imperatives of business may not conform to the traditional research, instructional, and service roles of universities. The implications of the study findings for business and university interactions are discussed.

Factors Associated with Changes in Prestige of University Departments.

Four models of possible predictors of changes in prestige for university departments are advanced and tested using multiple regression. Changes in prestige are measured using a residual change score derived from the ratings of departments in various disciplines collected by American Council of Education in 1964 and 1969. The models are tested using data collected from 1,164 faculty in 80 university departments in 1968, and from published sources for that same year. Results indicate that a resource model is the best predictor for sociology, and that a research productivity model and an organizational model were good predictors of reputational change for political science and chemistry. For physics, only one organizational variable was an important predictor. The fourth model tested involved reputation of faculty within the department, and this model yielded the fewest significant results. A composite predictive equation was then used, retaining variables that had emerged as significant in earlier analyses. Results again exhibited large differences across scientific fields, suggesting that there is no single set of factors that can reliably predict improvement or decline in prestige across all disciplines.

The transfer of information systems technology in state governments

Abstract State governments are increasingly utilizing various information technologies to fulfill multiple and increasingly complex obligations. One important source of information systems technology for states consists of agencies in other states, which perform similar functions and have therefore “pretested” potentially useful computer-based applications. This study is based upon longitudinal data collected by the National Association of State information Systems (NASIS) which examines the transfer of software programs to and from each of the 50 states. An issue which occupies an important part of the literature on the transfer and diffusion of technology concerns how and why public sector organizations adopt new technology, and the relative importance of internal organizational factors and external contextual factors in the adoption process. Using relevant state-level sociodemographic data, this study examines the relationship of contextual factors thought to influence transfers to five measures of transfer activity calculated from the NASIS data. The findings reaffirm the importance of both external and internal factors to information technology diffusion among the states.

Computerized information systems and public sector productivity

This article examines three competing theoretical perspectives to explain utilization of information technology in the public sector. The multivariate analysis is based upon a survey of 566 state-level managers. Propositions tested include both single and combined influences of representative variables from each of three different research paradigms. The conclusion discusses the implications of the findings toward making improvements in public sector productivity among public managers and for public organizations in general.

Unterschiede zwischen einzelnen Wissenschaften im Hinblick auf Forschungsaktivität und Produktivität

In letzter Zeit haben die Wissenschaftssoziologen ihre Aufmerksamkeit auf die Beziehung zwischen der kognitiven und der sozialen Wissenschaftsstruktur gerichtet. Fur die Diskussion dieser Frage war der Versuch notig geworden, einige Attribute oder Dimensionen der kognitiven Wissenschaftsstruktur zu identifizieren. Zwei zur Zeit gebrauchliche Unterscheidungen drehen sich um das Konzept der Kodifizierung in der Wissenschaft von Harriet Zuckerman und Robert K. Merton 2 und Thomas S. Kuhns Begriff des Paradigma3. Beide dieser Terminologien haben Gemeinsamkeiten mit den fruheren Unterscheidungen zwischen den „harten“ und den „weichen” Wissenschaften4 .

Urban police performance attitudes

Abstract Research on police performance has focused upon citizens attitudes and evaluations of police or analysis of police documents and records; however, there has been little emphasis on police attitudes toward their own performance. The purpose of this study is to examine what factors, especially perceived citizen input, influence urban police performance attitudes. One related objective is to supplement ongoing research and attempt to contribute an empirical perspective to the expanding literature on police performance assessment. In addition to specific findings relating productivity and perceived citizen ratings to performance, the study also examines the moderating effect of perceived citizen ratings on police self ratings. The results of the study support many traditional assumptions about the police role. However, they also show the influence of internal factors such as training and external influences such as perceived citizen evaluations of police performance. The findings illustrate that police performance has to be assessed from a multi-variate perspective by management to include citizen ratings and internal factors.