Governmental innovation support in Norway: Micro- and macro-level effects

The present article focuses on a government supported program in Norway. “The Innovation Plan”, aiming at overcoming the critical lack of innovation now facing industry. A framework based on the well known structure-conduct-performance paradigm serves as the theoretical point of departure. Both secondary and primary data are applied to assess micro- and macro-level effects.In this piece of research governmental R&D support was found to exert an impact on the level of R&D activities, as well as on the willingness to direct R&D resources towards projects representing solutions high in novelty. Various types of positive outcomes such as increased technical competence and spin-offs, as well as various types of economic effects could also be traced for the supported projects. Implications of the findings are highlighted.     

Action research and the micropolitics in schools

This paper is based on the assumption that action research always affects the micropolitical balance characteristic of a certain school setting. The authors claim that micropolitics, that is the patterns of formal power and informal influence, has largely been neglected in the literature on action research in schools. This means that action researchers appear to be ‘micropolitically illiterate’. Firstly in the paper the authors present the concept of micropolitics and a model consisting of three arenas for understanding micropolitics in schools. Thereafter they exemplify the different aspects and expressions of micropolitics by referring to their own action research projects. The focus is particularly on initiative to and engagement with action research. Finally they reflect on some micropolitical dilemmas characteristic of action research and the contradictory role of the action researcher.     

Gender Differences in Self‐efficacy and Academic Performance among Students of Business Administration

Gender differences in perceived self‐efficacy and academic performance in marketing, organizational behaviour, accounting, computing, mathematics and statistics were investigated in 154 college students studying business administration. At the beginning of their second year in college, the students completed a questionnaire designed to measure self‐efficacy in subjects they had studied during their first year. The female students had significantly lower self‐efficacy in computing and marketing and higher self‐efficacy in statistics than the male students. Except for statistics, where female students outperform their male counterparts, there were no significant gender differences in academic performance.     

OPINION LEADERSHIP AND POLITICAL EXTREMISM

An analysis of a survey material with 14,000 respondents fromNorway 1984–5 shows a U-shaped relationship between positionon a political left–right scale and activity to influenceothers through personal communication, with the exception ofa sharp drop at the extreme left. Various hypotheses attemptingto explain this pattern of a left dip are tested and refuted:1) it does not seem to be the result of sampling or measurementerror, 2) it is only to a limited extent explained by the socialcomposition of the extreme left, 3) it is not due to the partycomposition of the extreme left, but exists within all partiesof the left, 4) it is not a symptom of a general withdrawalfrom political activity, the extreme left does not lag behindin membership in parties or local elected councils, 5) it isnot part of a general withdrawal from personal communication,there is no left dip in the proportion of opinion leaders invarious non-political areas. Trend data show a changing patternfor the relationship between opinion leadership and politicalextremism from 1973 to 1989, which corresponds to changes inelectoral support for parties of the left and right in Norway.