Internal factors determining a firm’s innovative behaviour

The present paper investigates the determinant factors in the organisation of a firm’s innovative activities. Set within a theoretical framework combining evolutionary theory and the resource-based view of the firm, the study includes an original proposal to characterise the innovative process and determines the extent to which a firm’s internal resources and factors explain the innovative process. By applying the econometric analyses techniques to a sample of 152 Spanish innovative companies, empirical findings confirm the existence of interesting relations between internal factors and the innovative process.     

‘Power on’: Googlecracy,privatisation and the standardisation of sources

The paper aims to contribute to the sociological analysis of power through the study of the structuration and retrieval of information on the internet. The main argument of the paper is that, paradoxically, in an age when the availability of information has increased exponentially, there is a risk that diversity in the use of sources for the construction of knowledge becomes more restricted than in the past and that information search moves towards greater objectification and centralisation. Knowledge management systems increasingly shape the ways in which we think about the questions we ask and how we try to answer them, which raises fundamental and largely neglected questions for education policy. The paper illustrates these trends with particular reference to the use of Google and Google Scholar.     

Individuelle und kontextuelle Prädiktoren des Fachwissenserwerbs zum Internen Rechnungswesen im Hochschulstudium

In our study, we examine some theoretically relevant personal factors as predictors of students’ acquisition of knowledge of management accounting, a key area of business and economics studies in higher education. We modeled and assessed business and economics students’ knowledge of management accounting in Germany using an internationally proven accounting test that has been translated and adapted and comprehensively validated for higher education in Germany. A review of the international literature showed that potential predictors might include not only learning opportunities students have used during and prior to higher education, but also students’ socio-cultural background and gender. These factors were assessed in a survey of 1012 students studying at 23 institutions of higher education. Not surprisingly, a multilevel analysis confirmed that among the learning opportunities a course in management accounting has the greatest effect on students’ knowledge of management accounting. But when other potential predictors are controlled, completion of a commercial vocation training prior to university studies shows a positive effect, as well.     

The transition from higher education to employment in Europe: the analysis of the time to obtain the first job

This paper investigates the determinants of the transition from higher education to work across Europe using various specifications of duration models and a one-time multi-country survey of university graduates from nine European countries. Results point to differences between the North and South of Europe in the difficulty of getting a first job. They confirm that individual characteristics such as the field/level of studies or the socioeconomic background, and individual job search bear a significant relationship to the probability of finding a job. Evidence of unobserved heterogeneity is also found.     

Superintendent’s leadership: the cultural aspects of the role enactment

This qualitative study seeks to create a better understanding of the work of school superintendents. This study was conducted using ethnographic techniques as a way to describe the practice of a Latino superintendent in a borderland community in south Texas. Guiding questions for this study were: What goes on in the workday life of a superintendent? and how does the superintendent enact his role as superintendent? Field study for this qualitative inquiry occurred over a period of seven months. Data for this study, including transgressive data, were collected primarily through participant observations, semi-structured ethnographic interviews, from artefacts and journal notes.